


They Come At Night

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood and Gore, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, M/M, Multi, Post S2, Psychic Bond, Psychological Trauma, Sexual Content, Shiro's mentioned but not in the story, Shiro's missing and they deal with the fall out, Survival Horror, adding the archive warning for that, angsty smut, it's not over the top but it's not easy to read i guess?, new chapter has graphic depictions of violence, the smut happens for a reason, they bond over their feelings for shiro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2017-09-28
Packaged: 2018-12-22 11:35:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 43,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11966547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The sound of the waves rising and pushing over the sand are deafening white noise and she almost misses his quiet response. Keith sighs and looks at her. Once again, she’s left speechless by the haunted shadow in his gaze.“They come at night,” he says and jerks his chin in the direction of the waters. Allura blinks and looks at the ocean, crystalline and seemingly lifeless.“From the ocean?” Allura asks. “I made a scan of the planet shortly after I arrived, I didn’t get any readings of life here.”Keith’s expression becomes stony, voice hard. “Oh, there’s life here, and it clearly has every intention of taking us down with it.”Shortly after Shiro's disappearance, the team is split apart after a battle goes wrong. Allura, desperate to save Keith (who's closest), embarks on a rescue to get him back. Only this rescue takes a deadly turn when she learns of an enemy Keith refers to as "Them." Now, Keith and Allura must confide and share their deepest secrets to each other in order to survive, or else succumb to the terrors awaiting them in the depths.





	1. Chapter 1

Allura stirs and groans when she comes to. The world is a haze of fog and darkness before it clears to a bobbing rhythm that’s far too physical to originate from her mind. She inhales, slow, and the scent of salt and something sharp, like ammonia, fills her nose. Something about the revelation slams clarity into her mind like being slammed into a wall and Allura bursts into a sitting position with a gasp. Her eyes are immediately overwhelmed by blue.

A sensation, like being choked, clouds her and Allura quickly reaches up and tugs off her helmet, grunting in pain when the motion jars a tender spot on her temple. She glances at her helmet and scowls when she notices a noticeable dent in the metal and mechanics. It’s useless now.

Allura lets out a growl of disappointment as she tosses it to the side. The helmet clatters against the metal components of her pod and disappears from her sight.

She looks up and spots the sun overhead, harsh and bright and too much for a headache now splitting behind her brow. Allura’s lips curl in a grimace before she looks away. Everything is a vibrant blue, fading like a gradient that’s just a touch darker before the light shatters over cresting waves and troughs of an ocean. It occurs to her then, that the bobbing motion’s origin is from the waters that push and pull her pod up and down.

Allura glances to her right and spots the reason for the invading smell as a crack in the glass, no doubt having split when she had crash landed onto the water. Now that she can move, she raises her hands and begins checking the systems in her only means of safety from the depths. To her relief, the pod activates with a slow whir and flicker of the hologram systems. The systems cover the glass over her head and the graphs blink swift analyses of the planet she’s landed in.

She scowls with effort as she works, ignoring the pain in her head despite its persistence. Something like sweat drips down her brow and she drags the back of her hand to wipe it away. Allura sighs in dismay when the back of her hand comes back a dark red.

“Great,” she says through a grumble. “Just great.”

The landing must have been rougher than she first believed. Allura grunts as she manages to push away the pain to focus on her mission at hand. It isn’t hard to recall why she was down here in the first place and her fingers dart back and forth in a blur over the pod’s systems to find what she’s looking for.

“Come on,” she says and ignores another persistent trickle down her forehead. Her stomach dips and her mind spins for a moment. She groans and swallows down the urge to expel what meager rations she had consumed just that morning. Her throat burns with bile she forces down. Allura grimaces when an attempt to shake it off made her head pound harsher in protest.

“All right, Allura,” she says, blinking with effort. “Deep breath, come on.”

The pod’s systems spin with a beep and hone in on a spot just several miles in a certain direction. The targeted spot blinks several times before whirling with enthusiasm and locking on location. An image of Keith’s head covered by the Red Paladin’s helmet appears just over the spot.

“Oh stars,” Allura cries in relief as she slumps backward, hands coming up to press against trembling lips. “He’s alive.”

Allura blinks away tears and straightens again. Her fingers jab at the hailing frequency to the Castle of Lions, eager to share her findings with Coran. Instead of a cheery chime signaling a connection, the pod’s systems wail in red and purple, displaying an angry error message in large Altean letters.

_Frequency Monitor deactivated: hailing beacon damaged or missing. Restore?_

“Fine,” she says through a grunt. “Coran will have to wait. I’ll just have to keep moving.”

Another swift check and Allura is grateful her pod’s engines are, at the very least, still functional. With a flurry of commands, the pod roars to life and lifts off the maddening rhythm of the restless ocean beneath. Allura presses buttons and adjusts the seat in her pod to accept manual controls. Her fingers grip the handles tightly as she maneuvers her pod off the unsteady waves and into the air.

_Pod seal compromised. Continue?_

Allura bites her lip and works the commands to begin a synthetic repair. A moment after the pod does so, she slams the controls forward and feels her body press against her seat, the force of inertia threatening to overwhelm her. Her head continues to pound but that doesn’t matter.

“Hang in there, Keith,” she says through a tight jaw. “I’m coming.”

 

.x.

 

The scans show quick answers about the planet Allura finds herself within. There are no continents on this planet, only a scattering of islands and long strips of land that are nearly impossible to distinguish from the waters. Allura focuses on the instructions from her pod, realizing with an unnerved hiss that it is all too easy to become lost by the horizon’s unchanging appearance.

She’s been flying for perhaps a few minutes, but the unchanging view before her feels as though she’s been flying for maybe seconds… or maybe eternities. It only makes her head pound even harder. Her stomach is unusually queasy, clenching in discomfort with every other throb of a headache. The trickle continues despite her anxious fretting. After a while, she stops brushing it away, sick of seeing her blood stain the back of her gloved palm.

Finally, after ages, she spots a crest of a shadow, rising from the waves before curving back into the waters. She squints and the pod’s tech zooms visual over the area. It’s a larger island, and it looks like part of a cliffside. A moment later she spots a blot of red and feels her heart jump to her throat. The tech seems to sense her frantic need for further visual and zooms directly over the blot. Despite a distant fog curling over the edges of the island, the blot is revealed as the Red Lion’s body, strewn haphazardly over the beach.

Allura slams the pedals forward and urges her pod to go faster. The ocean beneath blurs as she tears through the air, her heart is pounding in her mouth and leaving her pushing against the force of travel. When she arrives, her body thrums with anxiety and the blood-yanking desire to engage in a search. The pod slows and descends over the beach and the waters part as she lands.

The pod door pops with a hiss and Allura waits no longer to jump out of the machine by the time it settles into the dark ground. Her feet sink into the dark sand, black and blue and purple. She stumbles, grunting when the sand sucks at her ankles. It reminds her of a bruise.

She hurries along, legs carrying a swift pace to avoid sinking any deeper as she approaches the Red Lion’s massive body.

Allura’s mind reaches out on instinct, seeking the swath of consciousness that emanates from the Red Lion’s essence like a cool touch and a warming breath. She barely manages to make it a few steps before her mind is assaulted by an unforeseen wall. It’s so abrupt she skids to a stop, eyes wide as she stares up at Red’s sand covered face.

She’s a mere few feet away but in that moment, she has never felt so far away from the massive Lion. It’s a horrifying sensation but she pushes through it with a determined bite of her lips.

“It’s me,” she speaks, pressing a shaking hand to her chest. “It’s all right…”

The wall remains unmoving for a long moment. It seems like an eternity before it begins to fall away much like the sand beneath. She feels a cautious prodding and she closes her eyes to let Red in. To cement the connection, Allura thinks of a recent memory of the other Paladins eating dinner in the castle. It is more than enough for a password.

The resulting agony that hits her is all so much, Allura instinctively throws a wall over herself. She gasps and stumbles, shaken by the force and the weakness of her own body. She has to physically take a few steps back to gather her bearings before she can allow herself to accept Red’s presence.

Red’s quintessence is so marred, so weakened, it’s dampened her usual grace and pride into something wounded and feral. Allura licks her lips and tastes salt and traces of ammonia before she takes the next few steps with a slow certainty. She exhales, pulling deep from her chest the soothing magic that has restored so many before. Her fingertips tingle with brimming energy and she reaches to touch Red’s jaw.

Something slams into her side without warning, knocking her off her feet. Allura’s body slams into a sprawl on the sand. She shouts in both pain and surprise before her head bounces against the wet silt with a squelch.

There’s a scramble as she attempts to face her attacker, but whoever or whatever it was, they were now mounted firmly over her hips and pressing against her shoulders and head with limbs that felt like elbows and clawing hands. One such hand finds her neck and squeezes, forcing her face against the sand.

Sea water splashes beneath her and stings against the cut on her forehead and gets in her eyes. The smell and taste is foul. Allura spits, shrugging off the shock and turning her strength against her attacker. She barely manages to wriggle away enough to use her hands when she feels something sharp press against her neck.

Alarm forces her body to freeze and her mind to still. Allura blinks, focusing her breathing to steady. When her eyes focus away from the haze of pain and overwhelming vibrancy of the sunshine overhead, she’s blinded by the bounce of light off a blade and the most violent expression she has ever seen reflecting from a pair of familiar indigo eyes.

_Keith…!_

Before she can even breathe in relief and reach for him, Keith shifts and aims his sword—his Galra sword—higher, and Allura feels the blade scrape against her fluttering pulse. Her breath hitches in a squeak and she remains still.

“I thought I warned you bastards,” Keith’s voice is a low growl and Allura can only stare up at him in shock. She realizes too late that his other hand is gripping to her neck, forcing her down on the ground. “To stay away from my Lion.”

“K-Keith…!” Allura squeezes out, feeling the pressure in her head mount making her feel lightheaded and anxious. She wants to throw him off, but she’s too surprised and her head is pounding too hard for her to summon her usual strength to throw him off. She feels as weak as a t’kyanlu beneath Keith’s unexpected rage.

“Shut up!” Keith snarls and shakes her, making her gasp. “I’m not stupid enough to fall for the same damn tricks!”

“P-please, Keith,” Allura tries again, but he was scaring her. He looks wild; eyes wide and sunken in, his armor broken in places and filthy in others. His cheeks are covered with scratches and wounds, mottled with bruises (some older than others), and his lower lip looks ragged, nearly bitten off.

She swallows down her nerves and attempts to calm herself. “Relax, it’s me. Princess Allu—“

The blade on her neck presses tight enough to make her stiffen with alarm and become silent again.

“Don’t you dare say her name!” Keith shouts.

“Red!” Allura cries as best as she can, reaching out toward Red’s essence. For a horrifying second, Allura fears it isn’t enough, that she was going to die here by Keith’s blade. She’s starting to see dark spots when the sharp point on her neck retreats a few inches.

“…Red?” Keith says softly, eyes growing wide and looking away from her to stare in amazement at the Red Lion. Allura wastes no time, yanking an arm out from under her before she slams a palm into his stomach. Keith lets out a low grunt as he’s sent flying. Air bursts from his lips in grunts and groans as he lands and skids in rough thuds on the sand.

Allura pulls herself to her knees and looks up, gasping and pressing worried fingers to her throat. The skin where his sword had threatened didn’t break and that was a relief. The ghost of the blade’s point pressing against her throat remains despite it all. That had been far too close a call…

Allura follows the parts of the small sand dunes split by Keith’s fall until she sees him hoisting himself up unsteadily. She must’ve sent him flying just a few yards away. Stars, she feels so weak.

Keith winces as he pulls his body up, gingerly pressing his hand to where she had struck him. His teeth are bared with effort as he sucks pained breaths in.

“A…Allura?” he asks a tentative moment later. She meets his wild gaze with one of stunned silence. She’s taken aback by the change, how swiftly he’s gone from a man rabid with rage to the Keith she knows, expression wary and vulnerable.

“Yes,” Allura croaks and clears her throat before seeking his expression in earnest. “It’s me. It’s really me.”

She doesn’t expect to see his weapons fall from his hands. The Galra blade bounces against the sand once and his Bayard disappears with a flash of energy from his suit. there’s no preamble, no warning he gives before he’s approaching. His pace is slow at first before quickly picking up speed, eyes wide with disbelief.

“I’ve been searching for you for a while now,” Allura says, relaxing now that she knows the danger has passed. “Coran was able to locate your Lion’s signature, that’s how we found you. Honestly, if it weren’t for Pidge’s programming we might not have—“

Keith’s arms wind tightly around her, pulling her into his chest, fingers sinking into her hair and digging into her waist. Allura’s arms flinch in the air when she feels his nose press against the side of her cheek. Whatever words she has left are swiftly taken from her tongue, replaced with a shocked gasp and the early taste of his name rising from her chest. Yet, even that is silenced when she hears him shudder against her ear, his breath teasing the tips of her ears. She shivers despite herself.

“You’re here,” he breathes, “You’re really here…”

Allura’s eyes widen and she sees the rest of the island with an unfocused stare. A moment later, she relaxes into his embrace and pulls her hands around him, returning the desperate hug with a soothing touch.

“I am,” she says. “I’ve come to save you.”

“Thank you,” his tone is so broken, so completely worn and raw, it breaks her heart. “Thank you, Allura.”


	2. Chapter 2

It takes some attempts but after establishing a sure connection, Red’s essence thrives with budding life and continues to pulse under Allura’s ministrations. After some time, Allura pulls her palms from the Lion’s face.

“I was able to spark her quintessence to self-heal,” Allura says and presses a finger to her temples. “She’s really been through it.”

“The first while when we crashed wasn’t bad,” Keith says and when she looks at him he’s pressing his forehead against Red’s face. “All this water though… it’s made it hard for us to do any more than small scouting missions around the face of the planet. Something here hasn’t allowed Red to fly.”

“This is more damage than a simple issue with the energy here could do,” Allura says, crossing her arms. “What’s happened here, Keith?”

He says nothing for a moment. The sound of the waves rising and pushing over the sand are deafening white noise and she almost misses his quiet response. Keith sighs and looks at her. Once again, she’s left speechless by the haunted shadow in his gaze.

“They come at night,” he says and jerks his chin in the direction of the waters. Allura blinks and looks at the ocean, crystalline and seemingly lifeless.

“From the ocean?” Allura asks. “I made a scan of the planet shortly after I arrived, I didn’t get any readings of life here.”

Keith’s expression becomes stony, voice hard. “Oh, there’s life here, and it clearly has every intention of taking us down with it.”

He pauses and the quick silence makes her look back at him. He’s too close and Allura flinches when she feels his hand brush over her temple, thumb tracing the edge of her cut. He pulls away suddenly and his cheeks flush with embarrassment. Keith clears his throat.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean…”

“It’s not bad,” Allura says with a light quirk of her lips. “And this cut wasn’t because of you. I banged my head when I landed. I have no idea why I had such a rough landing though. That’s never happened before.”

“It’s this place,” Keith says and his expression returns to that stony look of before. “Something here, something tangible, is responsible. I don’t know what it is but it has made it impossible to leave. …I really hope you can get us out of here.”

Allura’s heart caves and she sighs, “Any chances your radios are working?”

 “No.” Keith’s eyebrows furrow.

“Well it looks like we’ll be stuck here until Red heals,” Allura says. “My pod’s hailing device was damaged in the crash.”

Keith’s eyes narrow next, “That’s the first thing that I noticed went down with Red. After that it was system after system that started going down.”

A zing of foreboding fills Allura then. Looking at the ocean now feels like looking at an ominous shadow. The sound of the waves crashing on the sand no longer feels soothing nor relaxing.

“What do we do?” she asks.

Keith’s hand gathers hers and pulls, “Come with me. This is the only place that can get high enough to be safe.”

Allura follows his tug and looks at him. “Will Red be alright?”

Keith nods, “They’ve had plenty of chances to take her, but I don’t think they dare. Something about Red scares them.”

Allura lets him take her up a slope and up a rocky incline. As soon as they’re far enough away, Red’s body becomes surrounded by the familiar red-glowing particle barrier associated with protected state. Keith lets out a sigh of relief at that.

They walk only for a few minutes before she finds where he’s made camp on a ledge directly above Red’s prone body. The bruising sand hardens the further up they get and Allura spots grooves on the rock that tells her Keith had dragged big portions of rock to form a shelter. There aren’t any trees or wildlife anywhere that she can see. It all looks so lonely.

“This is your camp?”

“I’ve had to work with what I had. Red wasn’t letting me in… I think she was just trying to protect herself.” Keith says, and she realizes that he still hasn’t let go of her hand. “It’s kind of cramped though, I wasn’t exactly expecting company any time soon.”

Everything about this situation feels wrong. From the grooves on the rock and silt to the level of unkemptness that hovers over Keith like a dark cloud. Allura stops walking and Keith pauses in his stride when he feels resistance from where he pulls.

He looks back at her and she takes in how his skin stretches over his cheekbones, the way his hair hangs just a bit longer, the way he doesn’t let go of her hand as if letting go of her would have her get swept away by the wind.

“Keith,” Allura begins, voice soft and uncertain. “How long has it been?”

His eyes darken and he looks away, but doesn’t let go. “Long.”

“How long?” she presses.

He says nothing for a moment and judging by how his brows work and his lips tighten she can tell he’s not too sure. “It feels like it’s been days… maybe a week? Two weeks?”

Allura swallows hard then and the fear in her chest only expands. He looks up at her and must see it reflecting off her face because he suddenly looks alarmed. “Allura?”

“Keith, the battle at Alpha Yunkari… it happened yesterday.”

He sucks in a breath and shakes his head. “No, it can’t be. I’ve been here for days. The days here are long as hell, but I’ve been counting.”

Allura takes a step closer and presses a hand to his cheek to brush his hair away and touch some of his wounds. Upon closer inspection, some cuts looked older than others. Much older.

When she meets his eyes again there’s something like horror staring back.

“Keith…” Allura says, “I’m not lying.”

A long moment passes and it looks like he’s been punched in the gut. He nearly doubles over and his other hand comes up to press hard to her hand and his face and he’s spiraling.

“Which means… time here…”

“Must go at a much faster rate here than outside of this planet,” Allura finishes. “It may have something to do with the Oduro Nebula’s influence… the fabric of space time twists and turns in ways that are unpredictable. Which means unless we have a way to communicate with the Castle, we won’t be able to return for a very long time.”

Keith stays quiet for a moment, and after he draws in a shaky breath, his hands curl into fists at his sides.

And then he swears so profoundly Allura cannot help but agree.

.x.

 

The inside of the shelter is cramped. Having only been put together to house just one person and judging by how certain parts of the shelter were caked with sand, Allura surmises that the nights here get cold, or Keith has been struggling to conserve body heat. Along the walls, Allura spots scratch markings into the rock and sand. Strange groups of four lines that are crossed by a single line, there are roughly a handful and she doesn’t know how to interpret them. A game?

Perhaps the method Keith has used to count the days.

There are other shapes and figures carved into the walls that Allura vaguely notices before spotting the corner where Keith’s been keeping his belongings.

“I can make it bigger,” Keith offers after they squeeze in. Allura reaches for a box of rations that comes stocked on every Lion. He stops her with a hand and she places the box back. It’s obvious he’s been careful with his rations. A system for survival must never be broken if it works.

“It’s fine,” Allura says and shakes her head. “I could probably bring my pod up here and we can squeeze in—“

He stops her by shaking his head, his hand finds her wrist and he swallows dry.

“Your pod stands out and it’s mobile… they could come and drag us into the water before we know it. They nearly did that with my speeder when I was exploring once. Until Red’s strong enough to allow us inside her… this is our only option.”

Allura stares at him before reconsidering. “Very well… It’ll be better for us to conserve heat and energy if we just take it as is.”

Keith doesn’t argue after that and she wonders if it’s because their possible sleeping positions will have them flush together. He’s been loath to part with her for long, yet the relentless desire to touch her has softened somewhat. It’s so bizarre to have Keith breach the space between them so readily, considering their relationship has always been maintained by a respectful distance. The few times they’ve touched have been because of necessity or because of emotionally charged moments—like the time she rushed to hug him prior to the battle with Zarkon.

She can’t feel it in herself to become uncomfortable with this, however. Not when the haunted expression in his eyes fades the more she allows him near her. As soon as they are somewhat comfortably squeezed in, Keith begins briefing her on his circumstances on this planet.

He gives her the run-down, followed by clear warnings that ring with a violent truth as he spells them out for her.

Never get close to the beach at night.

The ocean water is toxic; with how much salt and ammonia it carries it’d be more surprising if they did find any fish to eat.

He’s got no idea how there’s oxygen in the air but there’s enough to breathe without the helmet.

Red’s filtering systems can help with purifying water for drinking but trying to use her before she’s fully healed will be a stretch.

Food must be rationed with the surgical precision.

When the sun sets, stick together and never split up.

When he’s done, Allura begins asking questions.

“How big is the island?”

“A few miles long but about two miles wide.”

“Anything here that could serve for food?”

“No.”

The remainder of the day (Keith informs Allura is about thirty-two hours long) passes with them working together to purify water and to keep an eye on Red’s systems. Red takes down the barrier to allow them in before throwing it back up. It feels safer within the embrace of the red-glowing barrier, yet it’s integrity is too weak to be a solution to their camping issue.

Beneath the sunlight, the temperature is high and the humidity is exhausting. Allura peels the top of her suit off her skin to hang around her hips, leaving her with just a wrap to cover her chest and around her neck. She catches Keith staring a few times, his cheeks burn pink and ears flush when she does and before he looks away. He says nothing of it.

“You mentioned something about ‘ _them_ ,’” Allura mentions when a lull fills the space between them as they work to purify water. “Who are they?”

Keith’s body tenses sharply and he turns a hard glare in the direction of the waters. “ _They_ are the only other living things in this planet. They probably live deep in the bottom of the ocean somewhere.”

“What do they look like?”

Keith tears his gaze away and suddenly he’s trembling. His breaths come in fast and shallow and it’s so reminiscent of Shiro when he falls in an episode that Allura can’t help but rush near him to press her hands to Keith’s cheeks.

“Keith, Keith,” she says his name, voice steady and calming despite the alarm coursing through her. “I am right here, it’s okay. I am here. You are safe. We are next to Red right now. Look at me.”

When he does, she’s stunned by how vulnerable and childlike he looks, yet his hands grip her wrists with frightening strength and she fights the urge to lift him into her arms and take him far away from this place.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” Allura says.

“I’m fine,” he barks but reels back in. “I’m okay. It’s… They never keep the same shape for long… I don’t know how but they were able to find a way to look and sound like the others. One of them looked like Pidge once and she— _it_ very nearly dragged me into the bottom of the ocean. Another time it was Shiro but… instead of approaching me it would just scream in his voice… he would just walk along the beach, screaming as though he was getting tortured…”

Allura stops him, pressing her fingers to his mouth. She steps close enough to press her forehead to his. Keith calms down in increments, but it’s enough.

“That’s why you attacked me,” she says. “You thought they had taken my shape?”

“When I saw you getting close to Red I feared the worst… as if they were starting to not be afraid of Red anymore and were trying to see if they could drag her down.”

“I understand,” Allura says and attempts to comb her fingers through his hair. She doesn’t get very far as it’s matted and tangled and it causes him to wince than relax. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Keith says. They part and continue working in silence. Sometimes she catches Keith muttering to himself, narrating his actions as he carries the meager amount of water that came from the filtering system in packets.

Night time comes hours later and by the time the sun starts sinking into the horizon, Keith grabs her by the hand and takes her to their shelter without a word. Once inside, he peels off his armor and sets it to the side. Allura isn’t sure what to do so she busies herself by organizing the water packets by the rest of the food.

When she’s done she looks up at him and finds him staring at her arm. She glances down at it and notes he was staring at one of the pink marks associated with her race. Allura is about to comment on it, on how she has always found it so strange that earthlings carry no marks of their own, but his eyes are so distant that she leans in close.

“Are you alright?”

He blinks and looks up at her. “Fine… I forgot to tell you that it gets really dark…”

“Oh,” she replies. “How dark?”

“Pitch black. You can’t even see the stars.”

This surprises her. “There isn’t anything to block out the stars, though. Before I entered the atmosphere, I noticed an asteroid belt around the planet but that was it… You truly can’t see anything?”

His hands ball up on his knees. He doesn’t answer that question and she supposes it’s because he doesn’t have an answer to it either. The longer she was on this planet the more she finds herself hating it.

“That’s not important,” she says after a moment. “Tomorrow, Red will have healed enough for us to get a message out to Coran. He would have found the others by now and I’m sure Pidge could find a way to get us out of here.”

Keith says nothing in response and after a tense silence he turns and lies down. Allura feels her stomach wobble with trepidation but she follows him to the ground. It takes some shifting for them both to arrange themselves on the hardened sand and as the light of day fades further off, Allura pushes her focus over the sound of Keith breathing.

She’s facing him and her hands are wedged between him and his chest. At one point, he drapes his arm over her waist and it’s dark enough that she doesn’t expect it when it happens. Her body jumps a little when she feels the pressure of his arm encircle her.

“Sorry,” he says and retracts his arm. Allura shakes her head and runs her thumbs over the fabric of his suit.

“I’m okay, you just startled me.”

A pause.

“…Can I…?”

“I don’t mind.”

The arm returns over her waist and she feels his hand fall over her upper back. There’s just enough space between her skin and the rock that he can fit his arm in. It feels like it should be uncomfortable for him so she wriggles closer. That draws a soft gasp from him.

“Sorry. You were right…This isn’t very comfortable,” she admits with a wry smile.

“I did offer to fix it.”

Allura pulls her lower lip between her teeth. “Yes, you did.”

His chest shudders under her hands and she realizes that he’s laughing a little. “I can fix it in the morning.”

“How long are nights here?” she asks.

“Shorter if you can believe that. About twenty-eight hours.”

“That’s not so bad.”

“It is if you come from a planet where twenty-four is the maximum for days and nights.”

“Earth has twelve-hour days?”

“And twelve-hour nights.”

Allura gives a considering thought before shifting a little more, her shoulder aching from being pressed to the bizarre feeling ground.

“Tell me more of your planet.”

“Aren’t you tired?”

“Yes, but I find your voice soothing,” the confession makes Keith’s breathing take a little hitch. She pushes forward before he decides to ask anything. “You and Shiro have always appeared close to me. Are all your relationships that way?”

The arm over her waist flexes and stiffens.

“Why would you bring him up?”

Allura feels a wave of nervousness fill her. “Curiosity…?”

Keith says nothing.

“…I’m just worried about you. Shiro’s disappearance has hit you the hardest out of all of us. I’ve always suspected you to have known each other more than the others. I suppose I’d like to know how much you do.”

He stays silent for a while before gently saying, “He’s never told you about how we met?”

“I never asked.”

That wasn’t entirely a lie. Still, Keith lets out a snort. He shifts a little under her, as if deliberating. When he speaks, his tone is low and nostalgic.

“I met Shiro when I was thirteen. I was angrier then. After mom died, my dad walked out on me and left me to fend for myself. Shiro being in my life gave me purpose. He’s the one who urged me to study and sign up for the Garrison. He trained me. Taught me most of what I know. I didn’t make many other friends, so I couldn’t tell you about the standard of friendships or relationships even if I wanted to.”

“I see…”

Another long pause.

“We’re going to find him, Keith.”

“I know.”

Allura struggles under the tension the air between them. She isn’t sure how to feel conversing about such a topic when they were so close together. Another long silence passes and she closes her eyes to listen to Keith breathing. It was soft, gentle. Even.

He’s asleep.

Allura tucks her head down, trying to curl as best as she can without disrupting him. At some point, she doesn’t remember much but the feeling of his hand pulling her closer and their legs threading together encompasses her and allows her to fully relax. It’s soothing and despite the nerves in her stomach, Allura fades to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

A sound, like something hellish—straight from a nightmare—rips them both from their sleep. Wrenched from sleep, Allura finds herself blinking into the darkness, hands seeking the space around her in disoriented confusion. Keith is already up, scrambling for his weapons and gasping. The motion is so jarring Allura’s body bounces up and she’s on her knees, shaking wide awake before she can find out why.

“Shit,” Keith swears, over and over. Allura blinks and struggles to see in the darkness, but there is just enough light somehow that she can see his silhouette at the entrance of their shelter. The loud noise returns and Keith's silhouette doubles over with his hands over his ears.

“What is that?” Allura asks through a tight throat, heart ramming against her chest. “Keith?”

“ _Ssh!_ ”

Allura’s body jerks with surprise when she feels his hands cover her mouth.

She can barely make out the outline of his eyes in the darkness, wide and hard as he hisses, “Stay quiet!”

A moment later the sound grows clearer. Allura’s eyes widen. It sounds like someone screaming, crying out in agony.

“Shiro?” Allura’s lips mouth the name and her voice pushes through but is muffled by Keith keeping her mouth closed. Somehow, he could tell what she said.

“That is _not_ Shiro,” he says, voice gruff and savage. “Just stay quiet.”

Allura bites the inside of her cheek, feeling the tightness in her chest expand into a frozen in-between of fight or flight. It is difficult to avoid feeling afraid when the screaming sounds in the distance only persist and… even begin to sound closer.

Suddenly, the screams take shape into a single word, or rather, a name.

_“KEITH!!!”_

His hands jerk away from her mouth and Allura reels at the abrupt motion. She can see his hands fall around his head, covering his ears. A cold shiver encompasses her entire being, one that has nothing to do with the fallen temperature and more to do with the horrific realization that Keith has been enduring this torture alone for long days—two weeks, he said—on end.

The scream rises again, echoing Keith’s name in a voice that sounds all too closely to Shiro’s. In the darkness, Allura sees Keith curl in on himself, moaning lowly as his hands wedge tight over his ears. She reaches for him instinctively, then hesitates. How long has he been dealing with this? Suffering this all on his own?

Shiro’s voice echoes in her ears, her sense of hearing stronger than the others. She fights to identify something within the garbled scream of agony crying out Keith’s name over and over that would discredit it wholly. Yet with each passing moment, it teases the edges of her sanity to stretch and snap, sounding harsher and heart-shatteringly broken.

Shiro’s disappearance has been a weight that pulls harder with every week that passes. It’s made conversations in the castle tense and awkward at best, completely inexistent at worst. Allura feels the fissure between Keith and the others like a wound, hoping that somehow it would right itself on its own. Despite their success in defeating Zarkon, the price may have been too high. With planets needed liberation, this is when Voltron is at its most needed. Shiro's decisiveness has left their team in disarray and no amount of poise from her can fix the rip his absence has left.Now... this…this phantasmagoria runs rampant within Keith’s mind, ripping into realities where it doesn’t belong.

A new guilt yanks at Allura's heart as she watches Keith cower like a child within his own hands. All this time, she suspected Keith to be dealing with the loss as bad as everyone. She's been so blind. It's clearer now. Now that this…this phantasmagoria runs rampant within Keith’s mind, ripping into realities where it doesn’t belong.

The scream gets louder, more insistent—vicious.

_“SAVE ME, KEITH!! PLEASE!! FIND ME, FIND ME!! WHY WON’T YOU FIND ME?!”_

Keith doubles over, weeping and groaning in emotional agony. Allura is stunned by the words, sees the way they stab without mercy. Realizes that _this_ was the nightmare Keith has been living for days… such long days.

_“KEITH!!!”_

It digs into her ears, ripping claws into her skull and before long she's also slamming her hands over her ears with a groan. She grits her teeth as she tries to shake off the horror and the intense feeling of helplessness. What could she do?

What should she do?

She blinks up to see Keith, her eyes swimming in the murky darkness where Keith has curled just inches away. Their legs are still brushing and she anchors the sensation of contact into her psyche long enough to drag endurance into her bones.

Allura peels her hands from her ears and feels tears well in her eyes when the scream sounds even more agonized, helpless, wounded. She sobs and uses the force of it to propel her from her desire to curl into a ball and cry.

Allura blinks the tears away and darts shaky fingers towards Keith’s hands. She finds him violently shaking. He doesn’t budge from his spot, forcing his hands over his ears and rocking back and forth. _What can I do?_

At this point the screams sound tortured, drawing out in pathetic whines that rip into her soul. Madness nearly overcomes her but Allura reaches as best as she can with her mind until she can feel the cluster of emotions Keith’s mind has become. She draws in a breath and pulls her hands past his to cradle his jaw and pull him close. Her intent is to press their foreheads together, but Keith suddenly surges forward, clinging to her touch like a lifeline from the tumult of continuous torture. Their foreheads end up pressed tight together, their noses mushing hard enough to make Allura let out a little grunt of surprise. Keith’s hands jump from his ears to cling hard to her face, her hair. His breath is hard against her lips, hot and ragged. He shifts, and Allura has no choice but to sit up on her knees while he arches up into her, holding tight enough to bruise. 

Keith’s name echoes in their ears once more, but having him cling to her was enough to steady her and press her power between them.

_Keith._

She reaches with her mind, pressing quintessence through the tying threads of a growing bond between them. His mind jumps at the touch and recoils on instinct but she’s persistent and changes the approach to be slow and soothing, like water circling ankles rather than crashing like a wave.

_It’s alright, it’s me._

It takes him a moment to reach back and his touch trembles less now. The screams are still jarring but with focus, she can feel Keith direct his energy at the new bond building between them.

_…A…Allura?_

Her soul resonates with relief and happiness, overjoyed that Keith was accepting her in.

_Yes, it’s me. I’m here._

_H-how are you doing this?_

_With great concentration._

The more the connection strengthens, the more the sounds of the screaming fade out of their focus. Keith begins to relax in increments. He seems more eager now like a dying man finally granted water after ages lost in the sand.

_Is…is this normal?_

He must’ve noticed her struggling. Allura smiles despite the pain. It’s as if her entire body was clenching every muscle and stretching. She’s grateful for his desire to distract her, it keeps her focused on the task and away from the discomfort.

_Alteans do not usually engage in mental links as they are rather…intimate. Doing so is only acceptable between lovers or ha’nai._

_What’s that last one mean?_

_Something like what you and Shiro have._

Keith’s mind whirls and she catches sensations and flickers of memories that pass too fast yet settle as though she had seen them clearly. The revelation is startling and she gives pause for a moment.

_You love him._

_Of course, I do._

The love he believes she means is that of family. Though there is more in there that presses. Unable to think of another way to express it, Allura takes a leap of faith.

_No… I… you love him… the way I do._

She doesn’t expect him to, but Keith suddenly pulls away, recoiling with everything he has. Allura gasps, and holds him strong, fighting to keep the bond from breaking. Her mind blanks for a moment at the abrupt pull but she shakes it off.

_Don’t!_ Allura cries into their link. _If it breaks I won’t be able to create a new one._

He stops and she can tell he’s deliberating the pros and cons. Allura drags her fingers further up his jaw to tease the nape of his neck with a gentle caress. Exhaustion begins to pool in her arms and legs, making her slump forward slightly. To her surprise, Keith remains strong and his grip shifts to hold her when she does. They remain close in an impromptu embrace. 

_I’m sorry… With links like these, it’s hard to filter thoughts out._

There’s a pause yet the distant sounds of screaming feel farther away and Keith composes his thoughts better without the maelstrom.

_You... love him?_

Allura feels the question like a burden in her heart, weighing down before sinking into acceptance.

_Yes… but I… I’m wrong._

_About what?_

_I don’t love him like you do. Not as deeply…_

There’s a moment of suspended surprise that begins on Keith’s side before bleeding into hers. Keith is torn between despairing and accepting. She desperately hopes he doesn’t tarry any longer. Her body shakes with soft tremors of effort, sweat beading on her forehead. Another shriek fades into the darkness. Keith's hands around her shoulders and neck move with hesitation before wrapping around her certainly. A feeling like a door being opened to her fills her mind and Allura sighs with heavy relief. Keith's mind reaches out to her and the bond grows between them with reinforcing quintessence. With this much being opened, she can still feel Keith hesitate with exposing some parts of himself. She doesn't push him, focusing only on protecting him from caving to the sounds outside their physical shelter.

An ink blot of bitter amusement sinks from his end to hers. Keith relents and he sighs--warm and gently against her nose and mouth.

_He’s like a brother to me. Like family… But I suppose I also…_

Allura allows her body to relax and her weight brings them back to the ground where their knees slot against each other. His hands slide over her shoulder blades and back in a soothing gesture that's awkward from his end. She sighs, accepting his touch and it's enough to get him to let him slide past her forehead to let their cheeks rest against one another. There's tension in his touch that she doesn't register until she senses how much he's still hiding his emotions from her.

_Also…?_

_You aren’t supposed to know this._

He’s upset, it comes off him in waves now. Deep waves of gnarled mauve that threaten to stain their connection. Allura bites her lips in worry, suddenly aware of how this may have been a forced decision rather than a willing one.

_I didn’t mean…_

_It doesn’t matter. You know already._

For a moment all she can do is hear him breathe through his nose. Even through their proximity, he was keeping her at a distance. Her heart squeezes and she licks her lower lip.

_…You do, too._

He’s surprised and for a moment there’s just this and she expands herself to open little memories of personal connections she has shared with Shiro. Back before he had disappeared, before the siege of Zarkon’s high command took place. All those times, Allura had watched Shiro work and lead with courage and respect. Admiration became a deeply rooted respect and when he extended a hand of admiration in return, her heart was foolish enough to let the tug jettison her down a waterfall of affection and deep emotion. She exposes that much of herself as an extension of trust and good will.

Keith gasps a little, not expecting this much from her.

_He doesn’t know._

Allura lets out a soft huff of air. It might’ve been a wry laugh, but she’s too tired to give it a name. Keith's touch moves from her spine back to cradle her neck and jaw. Something about it seems new to her.

_We’ve both seemed to have lost opportunities to bear our souls, haven’t we?_

A moment passes in silence and it’s after it’s gone that they both realize that the screams have stopped. Careful, they both pull away, hands still pressed to each other’s jaws but the connection is unwavering. Keith’s touch on her skin is warm and a little clammy, yet it remains steady and the breaths that escape his nose tease her lips even now that they are inches apart. He runs a thumb against one of the marks on her cheeks and Allura suppresses a shiver of another kind.

“I guess we have.”

 

.x.

 

It’s still dark when she stirs awake. Throughout the night, noises and sounds echoed from the beach, lifting and warbling in voices that are all too familiar. Their voices direct most of their rage at Keith, calling out to him and taunting him with horrors, keeping him from sleeping in peace. Allura forces her attention to cement their bond even while they sleep and by the time she’s finished a faint sighting of light in the horizon appears. The voices cease their torturous screaming and both Keith and Allura fall asleep, curled tightly together, with her hands in his hair and his hands around her waist.

Light breaks through the darkness. After nervously contemplating whether it was safe or not, Keith and Allura fall asleep curled tightly together, with her hands in his hair and his hands around her waist.

Hours later, Allura wakes, blinking drowsily at the bright light soaking the entrance of their shelter. She pushes herself up, groaning when her shoulder protests the awkward sleeping position and the hard ground. She kneads her fingers against the sore spot, pursing her lips when her skin tingles with pain, like the forming of a bruise. Something slides around her belly and Allura glances down. Keith's eyes are closed in sleep, his arm falls limp in her lap from where it had once wrapped around her waist. She pauses to study him, caught by surprise at the peculiarity of this new situation.

It's so strange. She's never seen him like this before. His usually guarded expression is replaced by a sleep-soothed calm. His chest rises and falls with slow breaths, deep and rhythmic. Through their bond, Allura catches flickers of emotions and blots of ink-like dreams spreading before fading away from her consciousness. Allura closes her eyes to perceive them but they disappear before they take a tangible shape.

Allura turns slightly, leaning close to study Keith's face with a little more intent. Sure enough, his brows pull together before falling slack, repeating a motion of knitting and pulling that betrays restlessness. His eyelids flutter softly in preparation to snap open and seek out a threat. His fingers over her thigh twitch every now and then. Occasionally, his mind conjures up the image of his blade and bayard, picturing with vivid clarity the last known place where he left them. Up close, she can see how his muscles tense and relax, ready to explode into action.

A worried sigh builds in Allura's chest and she lets it escape once she looks away, careful not to disturb him. She's curious as to why he hasn't woken up now that she was moving and then she realizes it may be so that he can pretend his mental state is not as bad as he wants her to believe. A foolish notion, considering the bond is rendering that useless. Still, she's not going to call him out on it. Not when there's so little between them that he feels comfortable in hiding.

Even now, he's uncertain to fully trust her. 

Allura reaches out before she can think, brushing fingertips over his brows until the creases melt away. She’s caught by the sight of his lips parting and the way he sighs.

_He looks so young…_

Her heart despairs for the pains he’s been forced to endure alone. Allura's lips tighten into a determined line, forcing the despair into an angry determination. As carefully as she can, Allura pushes herself up and away from Keith, feeling his hands slide off her body before laying limp on the sand beneath.

She considers shifting his body to a better sleeping position but decides against it since she doesn't want to give him a reason to wake up. Instead, she gathers as much sand as she can with her hands and gently pushes the mound beneath his head as a makeshift pillow. With that sorted, she gently stalks out of the shelter.

The sunlight is harsher than what she’s used to after hours of complete darkness. She blinks and waits for details to assume a crisp view. It doesn’t take long and she walks up toward the ledge to peer down.

Red’s body hasn’t moved from where she last saw the Lion. The bright red particle barrier surrounding the Lion shimmers beneath the sunlight, steady and strong. Allura’s eyes seek out signs of the visitors who harassed them through the night, yet her eyes fail to catch anything over the dark sand. Even after shifting her eyes to take in more details than normal, Allura fails to find even a set of footprints. Her determination is slightly disturbed by her confusion and racing mind.

Species of known creatures she’s studied in her years on Altea flutter by quick but none seem to fit the description. Allura presses her hands to her hips.

“Like it’d make a difference,” she says to herself, turning from the ledge to follow the path down the road Keith taught her. “Ten thousand years is plenty of time for species to evolve into something completely different.”

The idea that her vast knowledge of species fails to help them in this predicament does nothing to bolster her confidence.

As she walks she takes to studying the sky again. The sun was higher up but at a different angle than it had been yesterday. She can't tell her directions from where they are and while her suit normally does that for her, it is still unnerving to be unable to tell what was east or west. For all, she knows this planet's axis could be inverted...

Everything blends together. Blues and blacks and purples and nothing else. Staring out into the horizon for too long makes her head spin and Allura is displeased by the sweat now making her hair stick to her neck.

“This whole planet is a bruise,” she grumbles and wipes the back of her hand over her forehead. The blood that had dried yesterday was a deep rusty color, looking down at it now, Allura's aggravation mounts when she finds fresh crimson over her glove.  _It still hasn't healed? What on Altea's moon is going on...?_

When she approaches Red, she extends her mind towards the resting Lion. Red’s consciousness is far more accepting since yesterday and to Allura’s relief, Red feels stronger.

“Good morning,” Allura says with a smile, reaching up to touch Red’s maw with sand covered fingers. “How are you feeling?”

A feeling like a pleased purr surrounds her consciousness and Allura smiles before pressing her head to the cool metal. “Don’t worry. I’m going to get you both out of here and back where you belong. I just... need to sort this out first. After that, we should be able to—”

“ALLURA!!”

Allura jolts, pushing herself away from Red and looking up to the ledge where the shelter is. Her heart stops beating and for a moment her mind goes back to the shrieks that haunted them in the night.  _Could it be? Is it them?_

“Keith,” Allura breathes before she’s backtracking and sprinting up the slope, sand spraying behind her in unsettling clouds as she pushes herself. Despite the panic, Allura reaches through their bond to find Keith's mind spinning with violently with horror and doubt. It's overwhelming and it knocks the air out of her for a moment, forcing her to stumble to her knees. With a grunt, Allura scrambles up the uneven rocks and sand, trying to find a way to wedge a thought between the fear in Keith's mind.

When she makes it up the ledge she spots him pacing back and forth in front of his shelter, his hands fisting tight in his hair and muttering furiously under his breath.

“Keith!” she calls to him, her eyes searching for any signs of harm over his figure. At the sound of his name, he stops pacing with a jump, head jolting upwards and turning to her with such speed she's surprised he hasn't given himself whiplash. His eyes leap in her direction, wide and disoriented. Allura doesn't stop, hurrying to him. “I’m here, what is it? What’s happened?”

He rushes to her, grabs her arms before touching her face with shaking fingers. His intensity startles her, yet Allura welcomes his touch, still somewhat surprised by it before she accepts it. She returns with sliding her hands up to his, intertwining their fingers as he rubs his thumbs to her cheeks. She takes another step, leaving only inches between them and keeping him close as he peers into her eyes in a frantic search.

Keith’s breathing is hard, coming out in harsh pants that slow and calm the more she lets him touch her face.

“You’re here,” he says, sounding like a man chasing away nightmares. “You’ve been here this entire time.”

“Yes, the whole night and even before then,” she confirms and finishes the thought with a press of her mind to his consciousness. The panic dwindles and he reaches through their connection to feel her. Allura lets him in, letting him probe at her mind to prove it's her. She winces at his inexperienced touch yet endures it until it softens and Keith is satisfied. He relaxes with a deep sigh a moment later before pulling away. Allura lets him unlink their fingers as he gathers his thoughts.

“I…I thought…” he says shakily before he drags a hand down his face.

“I know,” she says ruefully. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you. You were finally sleeping and I didn’t want to wake you. I just wanted to check up on Red.”

Keith nods and looks at her with an expression that reminds her of how he used to be on the ship. Controlled, silent, observant… It was a relief to see it.

“Sorry…" he says and jerks his chin in a curt nod, "About losing it, I mean.”

Allura shakes her head, “It’s all right. You don’t need to apologize.”

Keith clears his throat before he looks back in the direction of the ledge. “How’s Red?”

“Much better,” Allura says and is genuinely happy to say so. “We could be getting out of here as soon as a few hours while she finishes resting. In the meantime, you should go reform the bond with your Lion. She functions on the strength and quintessence of your bond.”

Keith sighs and looks at her.

_You’re wondering why I haven’t done that already._

Allura feels her body start at his abrupt use of their link but doesn’t question it.

_It’s been a passing thought._

Keith’s eyes flash with understanding before he looks down at the ground.

_I tried when I first crashed here… but Red wouldn’t wake up no matter what I did. I scouted the area to see what I could find._

_I landed here a few hours before sunset. After that…_

“…You can probably get why I struggled to connect with her after that.”

Allura’s throat tightens as she takes a tentative step forward.

“Keith…”

But he takes a step back, away from her, and that was enough. Allura tries not to feel stung by his sudden rejection but she composes herself enough to respect his space.

“I’m gonna go see Red,” he says and begins to walk past her. “You can come if you want.”

It’s easy to see past the courtesy and so she shakes her head. “It’s fine. You go bond with your Lion. I’ll scout the area and see what I can find.”

Keith appraises her curiously, “I’ve told you all I know.”

“Sometimes all that's needed is a new set of eyes to find a solution,” Allura says with a smile. Keith nods at her one last time. Without another word he turns and walks past her, footsteps crunching over rock and sand in a steady rhythm. He doesn't use their link though she knows he's aware of its constant presence and while she knows she wants to respect him, a part of her can't help but feel frustrated at this rollercoaster of emotions going through him and feeding into her. Allura pulls her arms close and hugs herself, closing her eyes against a breeze that reeks of the ocean's mist. Drawing in a shaky breath she turns and watches Keith disappear down the slope before turning back around. She drops her hands to her sides and clenches her fists tightly, resolute.

Allura looks down over the ledge from where she stands, before spotting the distant figure of her fallen pod on the lip of the beach just a kilometer or so away. The waters lap around its metal body, gleaming brightly under the hot sun. An idea takes shape and she allows herself to hope.

“Right then.”


	4. Chapter 4

It’s archaic but with some effort Allura constructs an astral dial with rocks, drawings on the sand, and some cables she gathered from her stationary pod. When she had gone back to find her pod, she was dismayed to find much of the machinery dismantled by some vicious force. Her own investigations haven't led her to find a known species responsible any better than before, though she does have a darker understanding of this planet’s hosts.

They clearly didn’t attack the pod in search of food, nor was it done with a fault of understanding. Judging by the pieces dismantled, Allura suspects these creatures have a knowledge of machinery. The scanners and engines had been damaged and it caused such frustration Allura kicks a discarded panel in her rage.

Whatever they are, they were not kind and they did not want them to leave.

From the ruined pod, Allura gathers tools for her to improve their current predicament as best she can. A compact means to know which way is north, east, west, and south was on the top of her priority list.

She sets the equipment and makes her construction by the shelter, occasionally nudging her link with Keith to check in on his psyche. He doesn’t respond to her brief touches, focusing on bonding with Red and when she feels the shadow of a deep conversation between the two Allura leaves them be and focuses on her work.

She finishes a short while later, astral dial complete and glimmering under the sunlight, spinning slowly. She eyes the dial closely; a single tower of machinery and wires tugged together. The tower was stabbed deep into the sand and rock, and with the way she arranged the pieces, the hanging material shifts much like a balance. Locating north would only be a matter of waiting as the equipment orients itself. As it does, Allura drinks from a pouch of their rations and downs a nutrient-rich pack of goo for a late brunch. She returns to the pod to gather some more potential tools and manages to find her discarded helmet. She turns it over a few times and considers its damage.

She may not be a tech wizard like Pidge was, but she would be a fool if she didn’t know how to at least attempt to salvage most of the technology in her helmet. Allura bounces the helmet in her hands with a smile, pleased that last night’s creatures didn’t find it and destroy it completely.

Allura returns to the shelter and begins her next project—scouting. She needs to understand her surroundings with her own eyes now. With a final tug on her link with Keith, she gathers another water pouch and begins her journey across the island.

Her nose wrinkles as she observes the waters on the beach, catching the persistent stench of salt and ammonia lingering together. She can catch oxygen in the mix of gases but she doesn’t contemplate as to how.

If there is life here…

She moves on.

Allura treks for hours, determining the length of the island, searching under rocks for signs of edible life, etc. She peels her suit off her skin again during a brief rest, she tugs at her mental link with Keith and focuses on reinforcing it despite the distance. He’s still with Red, talking, and she leaves them alone.

The lack of food has Allura troubled, but she knows for now that Keith has no other options aside from their rations. Decided, Allura tucks her legs under her as she sits on a rock. She draws upon knowledge from species of her time, one such species had been able to photosynthesize and required very little external nourishment. The memory of her studies is all she needs to tap into just how to change her body and moments later, she feels her body become more revitalized under the sunlight, her hair growing longer to accept the sun.

_Allura?_

Allura jumps, startled.

_Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you._

_It’s alright,_ Allura chuckles through their link. _I just wasn’t expecting you._

_What are you doing?_

_I’m eating._

At his inquiring thought, Allura sends him a quick memory through their link of the creature she now uses as a base for her feeding. Keith takes it in with a sense of awe and when she’s done, he’s marveling.

_Is that how you look now?_

Allura giggles and shakes her head.

_Not exactly. Alteans take on attributes, but we don’t become other species._

It doesn't seem to register for him and Allura lets out a soft laugh. Instead of explaining, she sends him an image of herself, sitting on the rock and sunbathing. What returns is a sensation of alarm and… something else.

Allura blinks in surprise and Keith suddenly throws up a wall, just a memory of him being in the Garrison and tearing through flight simulators like child’s play.

Allura, not to be deterred, sees past the smoke screen and snorts.

_I didn’t think you’d be so sensitive._

_Shut up. You’re barely wearing anything, that’s hardly my fault._

A peal of giggles bursts from her lips and Allura is distracted from feeding as she can tell Keith’s covering a flushed face with a groan. Despite his embarrassment, Allura can feel something warmer returning, like a touch of amusement and it occurs to them both that it’s been a while since he’s felt that.

The mutual knowledge settles like a warm blanket between them and the connection only deepens. Neither of them questions it, nor do they feel bothered by it. Allura can’t help but feel happy that she’s able to help him through this time.

_How’s Red?_

_Better._

_Wonderful, I’ll be heading back now._

Keith suddenly tenses and Allura blinks, curious.

_Wait…hold on, Allura, where are you right now?_

She purses her lips, confused and sends him a mental link of her trek throughout the island. She feels a sudden surge of fear and alarm overtake Keith so powerfully it leaks into her and has her heart pick up speed.

_Keith?_

_Get back here, now!_

_What is it? What’s wrong?_

The thought doesn’t last when a shadow suddenly passes over her. Allura jerks from her sitting position and looks up.

A wave, the size of the castle rears high into the sky. Allura’s blood runs cold as she sees it loom overhead, terror freezing her still.

Through the link, Keith must sense her fear and probably catches a glimpse of what she sees.

_ALLURA!!_

Keith’s scream helps her snap out of her paralyzed horror. Allura lets out a cry as she pushes herself to her feet and into a sprint in the opposite direction. The sand shifts beneath her feet, causing her to sink with every step. Her legs burn with effort but she hurries. Through the link, she feels Keith moving with equal urgency, leaping off the ledge and careening through the air in her direction.

One particular step has her sink deeper in the sand than she can recover from. A shout rips from her throat as she falls forward. She turns onto her back quickly just in time to see the massive wave begin its descent over her. Sunlight shatters through the waters and it’s mesmerizing and terrible. Allura’s mind spins with fear and she feels Keith scream again.

_NO!!_

Allura knows she only has seconds, and so she throws her hands up and braces herself for the inevitable crushing weight of hundreds of tons of ocean water. She draws in a shaky breath before she is  suddenly slammed with brutal force against the sand. Despite her efforts, the force yanks the air from her lungs, raving her choking on salt and ammonia. The power of the waters rips her from her back into a mindless whirl.

Through the roar of water in her ears, Allura barely registers Keith’s panicked cries of her name before she feels her body being yanked in one direction. She blinks her eyes blearily and through the sting of sea water, she sees the island disappear before she’s snagged by a riptide and yanked deeper into the depths.

 

.x.

 

He’s been conserving the energy of his jetpack for emergencies. Using it sparingly after a run in with the planet’s defenses left the machinery on his back faulty. One hurried pause by Red confirms that she’s still unable to fly, still repairing herself. He wastes no further time and catapults himself through the air to where he last saw Allura through their link.

Keith's jetpack sputters a few times yet nonetheless propels him through the air. He pushes his equipment until he’s shooting through the air like a bullet, close to the ground to avoid a nasty fall. His heart rams a frantic rhythm in his throat, and every second he tears through the air feels like he’s swimming in molasses.

The last thing he remembers was seeing the wave as it loomed over Allura’s body, feels the fear and horrified panic that overwhelmed her just as the wave fell. After that the connection was torn, as if snapped between a pair of unforgiving hands, leaving only threads of what it once was. Keith reaches through the threads of the bond, trying to grasp a precise location of where Allura is, but he can only feel bits of her terror and fear.

_Please,_ his thoughts focus into a single plea. _Please, please no…_

Whoever he was praying to escapes him, but if there were any entities out there that had even a slight hand in helping him, he hopes his desires were enough to save her.

He arrives to the area of the island where he had last felt Allura’s presence and sees most of the beach dragged by waters and restless with movement. He feels like an idiot, he had thought he had told her everything there was to know about his experiences here on the planet, but one memory escaped him when it had mattered. Now, she was paying the price.

Keith hurries to the edge of the beach, not daring to go any closer to the waters than was safe. His eyes scan the sea for any sign of life, of Allura.

“ALLURA!!”

He shouts as loud as he can and knows he’s tempting demons in doing so. Yet, he knows if there was the slightest chance he could help her…

Keith bites down on his lip viciously before he turns away from the beach and seeks higher land. Just some ways from the rock she had been sitting down, Keith spots an incline. It isn’t much, but it was better than nothing. He sprints, muscles complaining against the sinking sand but he can’t find it in himself to care. He hurries up the incline and scans the sea ahead. He mentally kicks himself for forgetting his helmet back at the ledge with the rest of his things.

He clenches his teeth in despair and shuts his eyes tight to focus on the bond.

Fear, panic, an image of himself flashes almost too quick to catch but he pushes everything he has into the bond.

_Please!!_

Red’s essence takes over him without warning and Keith feels the bond with his Lion sink into the tatters of his bond with Allura, strengthening the threads until they stitched back together. Keith doesn’t let up, pulling everything he has into connecting with Allura.

_…!_

_Allura, Allura, please, answer me!_

_K…!_

_Allura!_

 

He can sense her now, thrashing against the waves and fighting the tides ripping her further into open sea. It’s all too fast and too hard to tell, but he can feel her body pull against the waters. It only takes a moment but suddenly he knows exactly where she is.

Keith’s eyes snap open and hone down over the area of ocean where he feels her presence the strongest. He sucks in a breath through his teeth, runs back and clenches his fists tight. There is a single thread of hesitation that grips him, like a metal wire digging harshly into his throat. This would be the one time he knowingly leaps into the waters. There is no guarantee he would make it out safely… there is no guarantee he can save her.

Keith lets out a cry and he sprints up the incline before jumping. His jetpack starts with a stutter before propelling him through the air. He pushes as hard as he can, extending his arms ahead despite the terror tensing through his legs.

He stops just above the water where he feels Allura struggling. _She’s being tugged down…_

Keith clenches his jaw and growls. He flies straight up—

_Allura…_

And then angles his body to dive into the waters below.

Salt water and something sharper fills his mouth but he’s still diving deep. He pushes and pushes, keeping himself focused and holding his breath. His hand brushes something, and it feels like an arm. Keith reaches until his fingers grasp around it and he catches a wrist. The hand attached to the wrist scrambles to grab him and he pulls.

_ALLURA!!_

The link tugs and sweet relief fills him when he feels her mind collide with his.

_KEITH!_

Keith lets it spur him and he pulls harder, and then he feels her arms around his neck and feels something else around her body. He pulls out his Bayard from his thigh and summons his sword. He swings and his blade slices through something. A shriek tears through the volume of water and reverberates in his ears. Keith grimaces and feels Allura arch in pain against him.

He pulls her up and kicks, willing his jetpack to burst them out of here. The machine at his back sputters once… twice… then…

It doesn’t.

Keith feels something in him clench in fear and terror. _No._

He presses the switch for his jetpack again. _NO!_

Keeping the air in his lungs is painful now. Keith kicks with fervor when something slithers around his ankle and yanks them both further down. Keith’s lips part and the air escapes in a cry that shatters in the water. _NO!!_

_Keith…_

His head feels like it’s being pressed in a vice the further they are yanked down and the inability to breathe is drawing further pain into his chest and making him scramble in panic.

_Keith, I’m right here._

He feels her hands cradle his jaw and something pressed against his lips. Keith jerks but sinks into the sensation when he feels air push into his mouth. He swallows it, desperate, and his mind jolts with clarity.

_A-Allura…?_

 

_Swim to the surface, Keith._

_What? No!_

_You need to escape this place and form Voltron with the others._

_I’m not leaving you!_

Something reverberates through their bond like a despairing feeling, a pain, and something wry all at once.

_You have to._

He realizes then that she’s pressed her lips tight against his, breathing oxygen into his lungs just enough for him to feel stronger. But, suddenly her touch doesn’t feel focused on feeding him air, but she draws his lips between hers and sucks at it gently. He isn’t sure why but the feeling of this registers as a kiss…

Oh God, she… she isn’t…

_Allura, don’t—_

_Goodbye, Keith._

Allura’s hands grab him before shoving him off. Keith cries her name in his mind as she gets yanked ever deeper into the depths. An image of Shiro disappearing into nothing seizes him like a rage and fear and everything he has ever fought in his life.

Keith isn’t ready to let her go, not like this.

Keith dives again and begins swimming, his head aching from the pressure in his ears, yet he swims and swims until it begins to hurt to breathe again.

_Just… a little more!_

He tries his jetpack again and again. His body grows weaker and for a moment he just knows this is it. He’s going to drown… and he didn’t even get a chance to tell Allura…

He never got a chance to tell Shiro…

 

Suddenly, the jetpack turns on and surges him deeper. Surprised, Keith feels around again and his hands graze an elbow. He grabs around blindly until he can grab her with more than just a fleeting grasp. Something else fights him for the grip of her arm and Keith swings his sword furiously. The blade cuts into it and it screeches again through the water. He grits his teeth tight again and circles his arms around her slim waist.

_GO!!_

He slams the button of his jetpack again and they are shooting towards the surface. Keith frantically tries their link again, but Allura is faint, teetering on unconsciousness. The next few seconds as he takes them from the depths and into the surface are pure insanity and he feels his head tighten with lack of oxygen. Every ounce of his body is stretching thin with desperation, the sole focus of getting them out of the waters and onto safety.

He dares blink his eyes open, sees the sunlight through the surface and pushes and _pushes…_

They break through the surface and the roar of the waters slams into his ears. Keith sucks in air hard through his mouth, gasping and feeling lightheaded. He can’t focus on it for long, pushing his jetpack to have them tear clean from the sea and towards land.

He clings to Allura’s limp body hard as they fly and stagger through the air. The water blurs beneath them to give way to sand. Keith’s pack stalls as soon as they are several yards into the beach and they fall to the ground without warning. He shouts, angling their bodies so that he’ll land back first.

The crash rips air from his lips in an “ _Oof!”_

They skid through the sand, bounce once and roll twice before stopping.

Keith groans, feeling the sunlight sink into his suit. He doesn’t realize he’s shivering until after he attempts to sit up. He coughs, groans and angles his body over Allura’s. They’re covered in black and blue sand but that doesn’t matter as he looks down at her.

Her eyes are closed and her body limp and after he touches her, he feels her body completely chilled. His stomach sinks into the ground and he scrambles over her.

“Allura,” he calls, “Allura, wake up!”

CPR knowledge jumps to the forefront of his mind and Keith tugs a glove off to press his fingers to her throat. He reels when he finds slits under her jaw—gills?—and he notes how her skin is paler, her hair sticking to her body. She isn’t breathing, but he can see her body slowly begin to change. Keith stares in awe as he watches her skin darken to its original rich-mocha shade, the slits mold back together. Water drips from his hair to land on her skin, but Keith dares not move.

A moment later, she looks like she’s always appeared to him. But she still isn’t breathing. Keith’s hand, having moved to grip to her shoulder, shakes her in a panic. Nothing.

Keith draws in a shaky breath as he settles her on the ground. He angles her chin up and pinches his fingers around her nose. Keith parts her mouth with his other hand and swallows down his nerves before ducking his head down and pressing his lips around hers, sealing them tight.

He inhales through his nose and exhales through his mouth. Repeats three times before pulling away and pressing his ear to her chest. Her heart pulses weakly against his ear, but she’s still not breathing.

Keith pulls away and presses his hands together over her sternum and he begins pumping up and down against her chest.

“Come on, Allura… Come on, Allura, come on, Allura. Breathe… breathe!”

The third time he sinks down to breathe into her mouth, Allura’s body lurches violently to the side and she coughs up liquid. Keith pants as she turns over and gasps, heaving. When it’s over, she rolls back onto her back and groans. Keith doesn’t move as she blinks away tears and seawater before meeting his gaze weakly.

“…Keith?”

He tugs her close against his chest, trembling. He says nothing as he buries his face against her neck and holds her tight. She coughs a little but eventually returns his embrace. They hold one another under the sunlight, gasping and panting.

“You should have let me go,” Allura whispers.

Keith rips away, enraged. He fixes a glare into her eyes, “ _No.”_

Allura blinks water from her eyes, surprised. “Keith—“

“I will not have you die while I have a say in it. Stop throwing yourself away like your death will do anyone any favors.”

Allura jerks in his arms, her lips part at his words. “I…”

Keith lets out a disgusted sound, pulls himself away from her and rises to his feet. He’s still shaking but now it was mostly out of anger. “Come on, we can’t stay here.”

She stares up at him in surprise before nodding, without another word she struggles to pull herself up and the two begin a silent trek back to the shelter. The entire way there Keith can feel her fidget from her side of their bond, trying to wrangle words together and he thinks he senses an apology forming before it all falls silent.

They are mostly dry by the time they arrive at the Shelter. He sends Red greetings and gracious thanks for her assistance. The Lion purrs in his mind, and he can feel her remorse for being unable to do much more. He feels a tug of her quintessence like a protective embrace and he knows she was also worried over their brush with death.

_I’m okay now. I’m sorry for all this._

The weight of this whole situation sits on his heart like a stone. None of this would have happened if he had just told her about that damn side of the island. If he had just steered Red away from being thrown into this planet. If he hadn’t gotten desperate during the team’s last battle and caused their subsequent separation.

_Shiro wouldn’t have ever let this happen…_

Red covers him in gentle sympathy that helps alleviate much of the pain but it still aches and he marches up to the shelter. Allura’s footsteps follow his until they reach their haven.

For the remaining daylight hours neither of them so much as breathe a word to each other and despite the desire to touch her, to make sure she really is here and none of this is a terrible hallucination, Keith can’t bring himself to do it.

Nothing has disturbed him more than Allura’s too-willing preparation to throw away her life like that… for him. He feels colder now than when they were in the ocean’s depths.


	5. Chapter 5

The remaining thirty-two hours slink by as Keith and Allura focus on separate duties. The silence that had followed them after their joined near-death experience has had more than enough time to fall apart, only it proves to be as persistent as the sand grating against their skin between their suits.

Allura doesn't dare tug on their bond as she works either, crestfallen and self-conscious since Keith's outburst from earlier. She hadn't meant to appear so willingly suicidal, but the circumstances were dire back then. She cannot possibly begin to place herself on the same level of importance as the other paladins. She was expendable, therefore her entire focus was to ensure the survival and fruition of the universe's only hope for liberty. There were so many lives on her hands, so many things dependent on the success of Voltron that if it meant giving up her life, Allura has no problem giving it.

This must've not been taken well by Keith, she believes. Or at least, she hopes, he's misunderstood. Even so...

She pauses from carrying packs of filtered water up to the shelter to throw an uneasy glance back towards where the Red Lion sat. She had thought Keith had agreed on this much with her. After her rescue from Zarkon's castle months ago, Allura was briefly told about Keith's seemingly cold suggestion to leave her in Zarkon's hands in order to avoid leading Voltron into his grasp. Has that changed? If so, why now?

Sure it was cold, but pragmatism is necessary for war. She can't hate him for suggesting it when she was an advocate of the same. Even if she was happy that they had come for her...

Is that why he's angry now? Have his emotions changed? Has he changed his mind now? Or perhaps Shiro's loss has made him more sentimental, less willing to sacrifice other members of their team since the loss is still so fresh... even after weeks of Shiro being gone.

Allura sighs for what must be the millionth time and chalks it up to that.  _I can't expect him not to be emotionless when it's clearly not the case here._

They split the remaining hours taking turns watching Red and monitoring her healing. The process is slow-going, moving at a snail's pace and with each passing hour, Allura cannot help but feel her anxiety rise. She wants out of this place. She wants out of this place immediately.

The sun descends and by then, Allura is frazzled with pent up frustration. Even after all this time, Red's energy was not at the state to handle anything more than sustaining her particle barrier and the cut on her forehead was still bleeding and stinging the more she rubs at it.

"This is absurd," Allura hisses to no one as she paces and digs anxious grooves in the sand in front of Red. "We should be out of here and back in the castle by now. How can you still be this weak?"

Red makes no response, unusually silent now that Keith was back up in the shelter. There's a cold moment when she wonders if she was even addressing the Lion in the first place. Allura's hands drum at her sides with massing impatience.

Nothing.

Allura groans and flicks her fingers over her temple to flip a stray lock away from her eyes. She ends up rubbing hard at her cut. Allura winces at the sting. She pulls her hand away to find a streak of red over her fingertips, yet again. She scowls and spins around with a hiss, swinging her foot and kicking a dune of sand hard. Her toes bounce from within her shoe in pain when the kick lands against something harder. Allura yelps, and doubles over to grab her injured foot. It's all so much she sees red.

Allura arches backward and snarls out a cry of profound frustration, "Damn this place to the deepest prism of Fuegaxaya!"

Her voice echoes through the air though it travels shortly as the wind and the ever present sound of the ocean slapping and tugging its waves against the beach swallow it up. Allura stifles another scream and shoots daggers at the horizon. The ocean was growing darker now that the sun was setting and a zing of foreboding has her wanting to hurry up the beach and up the slope to hide within the shelter. A breeze tugs at her hair and she winces when she reaches up for it. Sand sticks to her skin uncomfortably, and it feels brittle and hardened by salt water. Allura sighs and pulls out her hair from her bun, shaking out sand and silt with a grunt of disgust.

Not one to tempt demons, Allura starts her trek back up the slope shortly after wishing the Lion a warm farewell. Trying to find a way to tell Keith about Red’s too-slow healing process without dragging despair through their hopes was up next on her list of to-do things. To calm her nerves, Allura works--or rather forces--her hair into a braid, working the plait down to the very ends of her hair. She’s finishing up when she arrives at the shelter and finds Keith pacing again.

By this point, her anger is all dried up, leaving her to stare after his white, red, and black armor clad body with a look of dismay. The dimming light does nothing to soften the edges of his figure. His hair whips back and forth in the wind, making him appear more manic the more he traces a worn line on the ground with anxious feet.  _Has my anxiety burned into his side?_ Great, another thing to feel guilty over. Wonderful.

“Keith,” she calls out to him and he slows to stop but doesn’t look up. Through their bond, he’s distant and it leaves her aching.

“What is it?” he asks a moment later.

Allura draws in a breath. “It’s about the Red Lion,” she begins. Keith looks up, and something in his gaze tells him that he knows. “She’s… she’s not—“

“Healing?” he finishes for her. “Yeah, I know.”

Allura’s jaw tightens. She supposes he would know, considering their bond. She feels silly now for even attempting to warn him. “What do you plan to do?”

Keith turns away, “I was hoping you’d probably have an idea.”

Allura wraps a hand around her opposite arm and squeezes. “I’m sorry… I don’t.”

He doesn’t say anything for a while and the light of the dying dun breaks over the waters and casts him in a bright orange glow. It's so abrupt it yanks the breath from her lungs and Allura stares as he faces her, his eyes remain on the ground. If not for the constant look that haunts over his expression, Allura would dare say he looks beautiful. She squeezed her arm harder and sucks in air through her teeth.

“It’s almost dusk,” Keith says motioning to their shelter. Allura is grateful for the opportunity to look away from him. Her eyes fall to the mound of sand and rock. For a moment she sees nothing different about it, but a moment later she notes with some surprise that it looks larger. Longer. Allura parts her lips to comment on it, to say anything, but Keith beat her to it. He turns away from her again and begins walking into it. “Let’s head inside before _they_ come out.”

She tastes salt and ammonia and a speechlessness that refuses to shatter in her throat. Allura drops her chin and follows him inside.

 

.x.

 

The change is not extreme. Just enough that they would be able to squeeze in without needing to touch in order to lay down comfortably. Allura runs her hands over the walls, sees where the sand was disturbed and the figures he drew on his days alone are mostly gone. This must have taken him the majority of the day, and judging by the soft sounds of effort that fall from him as he settles on the ground, it must've been difficult to manage on his own. He must have been working on expanding the shelter while she was working on her rotation with Red. Something about that makes her feel dismayed, as though he had decided to dig a ten-foot wide trench between them. He doesn’t say anything as he lays down and shrugs off his armor again.

For most of the day, they had avoided each other. Allura sticking to the beach and watching over Red. She figured Keith was resting or training and never questioned him as she worked on her own. She feels bad knowing he worked hard to offer her a better place to rest. Did he know they would be stuck another night?

After everything... was this just a sign that he was no longer interested in keeping her as close as he had when they were reunited?

Allura surveys the darkening space with saddened eyes. Keith still doesn't look up at her, removing his armor in silence and counting their rations to himself. He's kneeling away from her, back facing her and the rest of the shelter as he pulls off his gauntlets and Allura's fingers scratch against the sand and rock as they tighten into a fist.

Memories of their ordeal in the ocean strike her with renewed force. Being surrounded by rushing water, spinning wildly and out of control, sinking deeper and deeper until she realized there would be no amount of shapeshifting that could save her from her death... then... the shock of feeling Keith's hands pull her up, of his thoughts slicing through the acceptance of her fate and forcing her to continue fighting for her life. Hope had become a blazoned fire in her chest that made her wish to share it with him and no one else... and then his jetpack malfunctioned.

All she could bring herself to care about then was making sure that he survived.

_"I'm not leaving you!!"_

Keith's mind was the one that conjured up the words and yet her mind brought up Shiro. The way he had fought for her, the way he had stared at her when she tossed him into the ejecting pod. It was all too similar. It was all so cruel. So unfair.

 _I wish I had been able to tell him..._ Allura knows history loves repeating itself. Why should this be any different? Only she had a chance to erase a regret, and while it was with Keith, she would take it as her price for giving up. So she snuck a kiss from his lips after feeding him oxygen, wondered if the sensation would've been the same had it been Shiro instead. It was the last selfish thing she allowed herself to do before releasing Keith and the pressure broke her into unconsciousness...

But she didn’t die and neither did he.

Somehow, they made it out. She remembers waking to the feeling of his lips around hers, shoving air into her airways. Then what followed was pain. So much pain and agony. The pain of forcefully expelling seawater from her lungs and stomach. The pain of breathing in oxygen and tasting ammonia, of having her eyes sting and her forehead throb as her body recognized living with the most focused ardor she's been forced to endure.

Then... Keith's eyes, staring down at her--wide and indigo--with so much emotion.  _How can humans be so full of emotions all at once?_ Relief, fear, exhaustion, happiness, despair... they all mixed so terribly, so beautifully, within this one boy's eyes...

Allura shakes the memories away and pulls off from the wall as she walks over to her side of the shelter. The wind buffeted around them, curling and rising as it broke into their space before leaving from where it came. Already the temperature is declining, leaving her to shiver as she settles on the rock and sand. Despite her efforts, Allura's eyes are traitors and fall back over Keith's back.

Allura follows the lines of his body with new consideration as he pulls the last of the armor from his body. He moves with pronounced slowness, exhausted and she realizes that he’s certainly drained from having gone through so much to rescue her on top of having worked all day to expand their shelter The guilt only digs deeper. Allura decides to approach him.

He doesn't move even as her footsteps reach behind him. If he's noticed her proximity he doesn't show it, keeping to himself as pulls his chest plate off and works on removing his greaves. He tenses visibly when Allura kneels behind him and her hands press gently against his shoulder blades.

His muscles are all corded tension, tight and ready to explode into action. She bites her lips and Allura leans down to press her forehead to the top of his spine. She closes her eyes and breathes. His sweat is sharp and bitter through the suit, but compared to salt and ammonia, it's almost sweet and soothing.

“I’m sorry…” the tension in his shoulders doesn’t fade, but he doesn’t pull away either. “I…I shouldn’t have put so much on you when I did. Especially after all you've gone through. I just wanted to save you.”

Her voice is small, so small and meek. Her fingers curl against his body and into her palms.

“I shouldn’t have done that, I’m sorry.”

He doesn’t say anything for a moment and Allura's chest tightens with anxiety at his lack of response. She starts to pull away, her heart at her feet when he turns to face her. It’s gotten darker, late sunset and the rays break through the shelter like molten gold and burnt orange. It’s warm and his eyes are seeking hers for answers.

“We’re all in this, Allura,” he says. “You’re one of us.”

Allura’s hands fall to her lap and she nods, her chin sinking down to her chest. “I know… I’m… it’s just you are an essential part of Voltron. If something were to happen to you…”

She feels his touch on her jaw, palm raising her face to meet his gaze. It's such a tender touch it leaves her skin tingling with unexpected electricity. He pulls away before she can make sense of it and Allura’s left falling into his eyes. Something else, something familiar, seizes her again since she saw him outside and eclipsing the sunset. It reminds her of a time when she'd felt Shiro’s hand encompass her own, meeting her gaze with empathy and compassion. This time, Keith’s eyes focus on hers, determination mingling within the indigo hues of his irises.

“We’re getting out of here together,” he says, voice firm yet soft. “I won’t leave you behind. Not now, not ever.”

_I promise you._

His sudden use of their link fills her with warmth and an emotion so powerful it quivers in her lower lip and has her grabbing his hand tightly. Keith blinks, surprised but returns her touch with a squeeze of his fingers.

_Very well._

She returns and then his lips pull up and reveal a small smile. Her chest feels so tight.

Allura realizes then that she is wrong… but not about her devotion or even her willingness to die for the team, for Voltron. She was wrong on something wholly different. There is beauty in this situation, and it lays curled within the breaking sunlight in his eyes.

Something about this revelation shakes her to her core and nothing, Allura knows, nothing will be the same after this is over.

 

.x.

 

 

At some point in the night, Allura jerks awake, gasping and sweating, biting back tears that flow from her eyes like the salt her body was once so desperate to expel. The spell of fear and terror doesn't last when she recognizes the pressure that surrounds her as the permanence of Keith’s arms around her, tucking her firmly against his chest and their legs threaded tightly together. Her tears and whimpers fade to the rhythm of his breath by her ear, tickling the sensitive skin until her mind is successfully extracted from the terror of being tossed and thrown under frigid depths. There is a split moment where she doesn't recognize his hold. She believes it's the vice-like grip of the monsters from the deep...

And then she feels a caress through their bond, cradling her with such gentleness, it stills her immediately. Allura's breath stops--how long and how fast was she breathing?--when he shifts and works to encompass her with profound care. he whispers in her ear, “I’ve got you.”

Allura's fingers dig hard into his suit, digging into his flesh, and through it all, he manages to keep his touch on her as tender as he can as he whispers in her ear.

“I’ve got you.”

A sob shakes her and Allura tries to convey, tries to explain, tries not to break like fine glass in his hands. Yet he holds her firm somehow, steady and warm, like sunlight.

"K-Keith..."

"It's alright. I'm not letting go, Allura."

_I'll hold on to you all night if I have to. You're safe. I promise._

The fear of spinning under waters and crushing pressure fades to the persistence of his hold on her. Allura sucks in a breath and it breaks in her throat into a faint whimper. She doesn't remember when she starts crying, only that he's whispering soothing words in her ears and caressing her back until his warmth blankets her and she's digging her face into his chest. Two breaths later and she falls back asleep and the dreams of dying dissipate. There are no screams of terror to tear them from each other.

There are words that begin to explain the emotion now curling around her heart like pretty bows and gentle colors, but before she can figure what they are, Allura falls and falls until her consciousness melts with his and neither care for beginnings or endings. Just this.


	6. Chapter 6

Allura's eyes flutter into wakefulness and a feeling of safety. She blinks and blinks again. It's pitch black, yet despite it, Allura's mind feels light and well-rested. Stirring somewhat, Allura notes that she's still wrapped firmly within Keith's arms, the latter breathing deep and slow by her ears. She takes the chance to uncurl her fingers from where they've been clinging to his suit for the past few hours--or maybe minutes? It's so difficult to tell when there isn't a light source--and presses her palm to his chest. She stills and waits.

There. The gentle and rhythmic beating of his heart pounds at her palm, (in the left side of his body it appears, how curious). It's such a soothing rhythm, steady and firm. Allura feels the sensation blossom in her chest with a surge of affection. She smiles, snuggling deeper into his hold and relishing the feeling of safety when his arms squeeze her gently. He's done so subconsciously, she can tell. His mind is completely taken by a river of resting and dreams that disappear from her consciousness when she allows them. She can't imagine a time when she's felt so protected.

Allura draws in a breath and sighs, sinking deeper into sleep for a while. Her only complaint was their current sleeping location. While the ground was not terribly hard, what with the addition of some sand to help cushion their bodies if only a little, it's still uncomfortable. Her hip bone digs into the ground rather painfully and since becoming aware of it, Allura shifts as minutely as she can as to not disturb Keith. The minor shift awakens the rest of her body and her muscles crave a proper stretch.

She purses her lips and attempts to do so without moving too much. Back arching slightly, and belly brushing Keiths, Allura freezes when she feels him shift and stir, a soft groan escaping his chest and through his throat. Allura closes her eyes and waits. No good, his breathing's changed. He's awake. Oops.

“…Allura?” he murmurs her name, groggy with sleep.

“Sorry,” she whispers, perhaps more out of habit than anything. “Did I wake you?”

“No,” his answer is broken by a jaw-cracking yawn and his own body stretches out. His arms pull away from her and Allura pouts when they do, though she doesn't protest when she hears several of his joints pop as he stretches out. She pushes herself up on an elbow, eyes wide. He groans when another pop bursts from his spine and he sinks back into the sand.

“This is definitely not good for you,” Allura says, shaking her head. That was... alarming. He doesn't seem to be in pain, though. If anything, his body feels less tense than before. “You need a proper bed.”

“I haven’t had a proper bed until we arrived at the castle for the first time,” Keith snorts, voice straining as he continues to stretch. It's not an unattractive tone. “Compared to the stuff I’ve slept on; this sand is memory foam and squishy pillows.”

Allura says nothing feeling a strange urge take hold of her hands. Before she can think twice, she reaches a hand through the darkness. Her fingers bump into his jaw, before assuming a gentle caress. He stiffens again yet the darkness gives Allura a bravery she doesn’t expect. Her thumb brushes his lower lip and feels a breath trail her skin from his mouth, warm and soft.

“What are you…?” he begins to ask but stops as she continues her gentle examination. Allura wants to press her hand to his chest again, to see if it's fluttering much like hers is now. She doesn't though. If he asked her to stop, Allura would, but he isn't and so she doesn't.

She follows the lines of his face, knowing them well but not in this fashion. Her fingertips trail up his cheeks, the skin smooth save in places where she discovers stubble or small scratches. His nose is slender yet strong. Her pinky grazes his eyelashes as she follows the hard line of his brows, they flutter against her fingers and she laughs softly when it tickles.

“What time is it?” Keith asks finally when her touch works into his hairline.

“Who knows…” Allura says, following his hairline until her fingers find his left ear. It isn’t exactly a lie.

“I thought Alteans… rose with the sun or something.”

Allura laughs again, “Something like that. We can usually feel the location of the nearest star and our position on the planet. But…this place…” She shakes her head. “I’ve had to resort to constructing an astral dial that Altean children are taught to do in their nurseries.” her fingers trail the curve of his ear, fascinated even if a bit perturbed. Their lack of extension was still so very strange to her.

“Is that what that thing is outside?” Keith asks. “An astral dial…? Is it like a sun dial?”

“It would depend on the purpose of a sun dial,” Allura responds, following the curve of his jaw to tease a protruding vein. Her ring finger glosses over his pulse and finds herself flushing when she notes it's a little faster than before.

“They help us tell time, usually they’re less complicated than that. We just make a half-circle and leave a triangular rock high enough to cast a shadow and that’s how we know what hour it is.”

Allura blinks, “Well that’s not nearly enough information to survive.”

Keith’s shoulder lifts in a shrug under her head. “We humans are pretty resilient… though I probably shouldn’t see myself as a human exclusively anymore.”

The topic of his alien blood made Allura’s touch flinch but she doesn’t let it bother her. They were both past that now.

At one point, Keith’s hold around her body relaxes enough that his hand on her waist trails up. It draws a shiver up her spine as she isn’t expecting his touch. Her fingers stutter on their journey and her breath hitches slightly. Keith stiffens again before pulling his hand away.

“Sorry, did I…?”

“It’s all right,” Allura says and continues her study. “I didn’t ask permission either… should I stop?”

“No,” Keith says quickly and he clears his throat. “I mean…I don’t mind. This is… nice.”

Allura’s eyes crinkle warmly and she stops at the curve of his throat before starting all over. Keith’s touch returns to her back and his hand follows her spine up to the nape of her neck. Her hair, still plaited in a braid, is out of his reach and she vaguely wonders what it would be like to have him run his fingers through her hair.

Through their link, Allura feels him drift back and forth between wakefulness and sleep, soothed by her touch. Now that he was awake, however, his mind works in the background, tensing for any sign of danger. It’s the one thing keeping him from relaxing completely. Allura’s lips tug down from a smile to a worried line.

She shifts a little, pressing herself against his chest and Keith stiffens again.

“Uh, Allura?” his voice breaks with the nerves. She finds this endearing.

“Can I try something?”

Her hand comes to rest over his chest and along with the waking alarm in his mind, she can feel his heart pounding beneath her palm. Good... they match.

“Uh…um… sure?”

She leans down and hears Keith’s breath hitch tight. Their foreheads press together and Allura draws her essence between them before gently surrounding their link. Keith’s hands flutter on her waist before going still. She does not push until he pulls. As she does, her energy pulses and thrives, curling in tendrils through their link until a gentle blue glow begins where their foreheads touch. Keith gasps, and as she works she feels his brows draw together.

_Keith…_

_Y-yeah?_

_Relax._

_Oh…right._

Still, it takes a little more coaxing to allow him to fully comply. Allura doesn’t force him, allowing his mind to open and expand beneath her gentle probing. The glow increases as she pours her quintessence into his channels, picturing the pathways of his energy coursing through his body and filling them until they become whole and repair themselves.

Keith’s body arches beneath hers as he draws a shuddering breath, “Hah _…aahh…”_

_It’s alright, I’m almost done._

_It’s… too much…!_

Allura bites her lips in concern.

_It can feel intense at first… should I stop?_

His touch on her waist tightens, reaching to grasp her hips with fingers that dig into her suit and skin.

_I…!_

_I’m almost done, just—_

Allura is overtaken by a surge of emotions so suddenly she pulls away out of reflex. What occurs surprises her. Allura's mind spins as she's haphazardly thrown into a memory… or what she believes is a memory.

_“Shiro,”_ Keith’s voice escapes from her throat and Allura reels. She blinks and suddenly she’s standing on a shack in the middle of a desert. Before her, Shiro stands just a few feet away, sitting on the edge of the roof and facing a sunset. Shiro turns and Allura gasps.

This is not the Shiro she knows.

This Shiro looks younger, with eyes that twinkle with excitement and innocence. His hair is jet black, his body leaner and dressed in green uniform. There is no scar over his face, and he smiles so easily, it takes her breath away. She's never seen him brimming with so much life...

_“Be careful out there,”_ Keith’s voice comes from her mouth and Allura vaguely realizes she’s reliving this moment.

_“Goes without saying,”_ Shiro responds with a chuckle. _“Edge of the solar system… you think Armstrong would be jealous?”_

_“Rolling in his grave,”_ Keith snickers. _“Though I think Kerberos isn’t as impressive as terraforming Titan.”_

Shiro’s shoves his shoulder (her shoulder?) and the two share a laugh. They share jabs and teasing, at one point, Shiro gently bops his knuckles against her--Keith's--chin. She (Keith? They?) recoils with a _"Hey!"_  and laughs when Shiro throws an arm around his shoulders and pulls him close. Allura’s heart quickens. She's no longer sure where she ends and Keith begins. He curls into the embrace, smiling when Shiro musses his hair.

_“Animal,”_ Keith snorts and pulls away. He’s happy, happier than he’s been in a long while, but this happiness… this moment is stained by the pain of knowing after tonight, he won’t see Shiro for over a year. (Allura's heart threatens to break yet again.)

_I should tell him._

_“Hey, um, Shiro?”_ Keith begins and Shiro glances at him. A moment of silence passes between them and Shiro’s eyes fall on him. He’s so young… so beautiful… it’s hard not to feel the words choke on his throat.

_“I want to tell you something.”_

_“What’s up?”_

Allura’s vision tunnels and the memory fades and disappears. It’s disorienting, being surrounded by conflicting sensations while her mind chases the images of a beautiful time and a Shiro free of pains and anguishes. When she comes to, she’s on her back and finds her body pressed tightly against the sand. She groans, limbs tingling with pins and needles and for a moment she’s confused. When did she end up on her back...?

_It’s the feedback… too much…_

She draws a breath and recognizes the weight. It’s still too dark, but she can feel Keith gasping as though he’s sprinted a marathon. His hands are holding her wrists down and their bodies are flush together.

“What… _happened?_ ” He asks, voice tight.

Allura swallows and isn’t sure if the pounding is originating from her chest or his.

“It’s the bond,” she says as carefully as she can. “Experiencing a surge of emotions with a healing like that is normal… I just… I wasn’t…”

It’s hard to talk when he’s so close and practically straddling her. Or is she straddling him? Oh stars, everything is still too muddled. Allura fights to right herself, to sink back into her own bones and make the distinction between her and Keith. She works her tongue in her mouth and after a long tick of slowly reorienting herself, she manages to pull her thoughts together.

“That memory,” Allura begins, unsure why but the words fall from her tongue without thinking. “Did you…?”

“No,” Keith says and his breathing begins to slow. “I never… I wasn’t able to.”

“Why?”

He moves and she wonders if he’s shaking his head. It's much easier to tell it's him who's moving and not her. He’s close and smells of salt water, traces of ammonia and something else. Something rich. Allura focuses on it and the way his hands still clench around her wrists. It's a compromising position, but it's still too early to feel embarrassed by it.

“I couldn’t… not then. Things changed.”

Allura shifts, her back arching to ease a discomfort growing from being pressed against an uneven patch of sand. The movement causes their hips to rub and she feels something hard against her thigh. Keith gasps and he scrambles back. Like tape ripping from sensitive, Allura gasps when he pulls too quickly. Her hands jump to his sides, gripping tight to keep him from moving any further away. Halting him helps stop the pain.

“Shit,” he says, “Sorry, I’m—”

Her hands dig into his suit, tracing his ribs as she steadies him back over her. Keith doesn’t expect this. His knee slips and he lands roughly over her. They let out shared grunts of pain and surprise, but Allura uses this as a chance to grab onto him before he can attempt another escape.

She swallows a breath and says shakily, their cheeks rubbing as her breath teases his ear, “T-the bond…if you pull away now your body will go into shock.”

“W-what should I do?” She can feel him making a conscious effort not to squirm.

“Just stay… stay still.”

He does or rather tries. His hands push through the sand and rock to brace under them, using the chance to pull some of his weight from crushing her. The result has them nose to nose, gasping and panting, trembling against one another.

“Sorry,” he says again. His skin feels warm like he's radiating heat. It's so warm it contrasts the chill in their shelter. Allura notes that this is the first time she's noticed the way the temperature has dropped throughout the night.

“No, I should be the one apologizing,” she says. “I didn’t mean to pry into your mind like that. I was only attempting to help soothe the pains in your aura. This place has caused you so much pain… and after yesterday…”

She trails off, chin tilting down in shame and averting her eyes. Not like it would’ve made a difference, the darkness is still so prevalent. An awkward silence fills the space between them and Keith shifts uncomfortably.

"Uh, Allura?"

"Yes?"

“Can I lay down?”

“Huh? Oh, yes, of course.”

They readjust themselves again, assuming their previous position with Keith on his back. Allura pulls herself over his chest, though doing so feels a little odd. She shakes the sensation off as she rests her palm over his sternum, but notes how his hands make no motion to grip her again.

“How long do we have to stay like this?” He asks, voice tight.

“Not long…” Allura says and fidgets with his suit. They sink back into a silence for a long while until she's certain he no longer feels worried or out of place beneath her. It's a relief to find him willing to hold her even if it's necessary. It must've been several doboshes before she feels him inhale and exhale deeply. Allura tempts a conversation again.“How do you feel?”

“How do you feel?” he doesn't respond for a while. She wonders if he's fallen asleep again when she feels him shift under her.

“Honestly?”

“Yeah.”

“Besides a little embarrassed... I don’t think I’ve felt this good in a long while.”

Allura lets out a breath she doesn’t know she was holding. She pulls herself up again on an elbow, looking in the direction of his face.

“Really?”

“Yeah… calmer? Whatever it is, it’s nice.”

Allura beams, pleased. “Good. I was worried the feedback may have undone the work I did.”

He doesn’t say anything for a moment and Allura finds herself unsure of what to do now. She settles back down against him, letting her head rest on his shoulder. Her mind still plays with the memory and her heart squeezes.

_“I want to tell you something.” Keith looks into Shiro’s eyes._

She sighs.

“You’re brave.”

Keith shifts beneath her again, a sign he's listening.

“Braver than I ever could be,” she says. A moment later and Keith sighs as well.

“I didn’t tell him anything after that. I chickened out.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Allura says, she turns so that she could lift her hand in the air. She focuses and a soft blue glow begins in her fingers. In the darkness, it’s almost too bright, but Allura allows the energy to flow anyway. “You were going to tell him. You had it planned. You admitted it to yourself that you needed to tell him. That’s more than I could ever do.”

Keith’s hand lifts in the air, cast in the glow pulsing from her fingers. His fingers graze hers curiously.

“I can’t say I’m not glad you didn’t,” Keith admits. “Who knows what he would’ve said.”

Allura huffs in wry amusement, “I can’t help but agree. If you hadn’t chickened out, I would’ve lost before I ever started.”

Keith’s chest dips once as he laughs. To her relief, the awkwardness between them melts away and they focus on the energy flowing through her.

“I’ll be honest,” Keith says after a moment of letting their fingers brush. “If it were between the two of us… Shiro would choose you.”

Her heart gives a little jump at that. “What makes you say that?”

“I’ve seen the way he looks at you,” she feels his fingers drag down her palms, thumb brushing her wrist. “Eyes wide in awe and respect. Like you’re some otherworldly being.”

Allura giggles, at his words or of the nerves now building in her stomach, she can’t identify. “Technically, I _am_ an otherworldly being.”

“You know what I mean,” he snorts. “Can’t say I blame him, though. You’re amazing.”

She isn’t expecting this, not his words nor the way she feels her heart quicken at them. Allura turns her head up and sees his face for the first time that night. The blue glow casts a new perspective on him, makes him look otherworldly and beautiful. The feeling of before returns with a vengeance, making her feel light and willing to do something crazy. Something stupid. Allura clears her throat.

“Is this what he’s told you?” she asks tentatively and looks away, unable to meet his gaze to ask the second part of her question. “Or something you believe?”

His touches on her hand slow down. She swears he can probably feel her heart burst into a nervous run from her chest where they’re pressed together, or her wrist where his thumb traces.

“He’s never said it,” he says finally. “But I know he thinks it.”

“How?”

“Because I’m starting to think it, too.”

Allura glances up and when she meets his gaze he’s staring back at her with an expression that makes her flush and swallow hard.

“Keith,” she says slowly bringing their hands down closer, the glow remains steady and the light bounces off the walls of their shelter mutely, settling in his eyes. “May I touch you?”

He doesn’t respond and for a moment he doesn’t even move… until he nods slowly. Allura reaches with her glowing hand, tracing the line of his jaw with her fingers. Keith gives a shudder, twisting his body a little to better accommodate her. This new angle provides a close distance between them and when Allura breathes in she’s surrounded by his scent.

“Keith,” his name escapes her before she can think why, but his eyes are fixed on hers, so focused and steady—like a flame drawing her in.

“This is gonna sound crazy,” he murmurs, and she can taste the words on his breath. “But, I really want to kiss you right now.”

A thrill overtakes her. He's given a name to the feeling teasing her since yesterday. Allura isn't sure whether to laugh or hide. His gaze holds her still. It's so gentle...

“It’s the bond,” she says, hopeful the explanation would be enough to satisfy him before she does something stupid. Like actually kiss him. Allura's eyes flutter as they continue to breathe each other in, his hands slowly find their way over her hips and back, trailing her curves and drawing delightful shivers from her skin. “I’m sure of it.”

“Is...this normal?”

“No,” she admits, but she doesn’t want him to stop touching her. Their noses brush gently. She can feel herself crumbling to his touch. Pragmatism, logic, common sense... it all fades the more his fingers trail against her body, carving roads of delight in her that make her want to jump, move, mold herself to his being until there is no beginning, no end. Just them. This is dangerous... this is...

"But..." Allura inhales just as he exhales. The bond between them pulses with emotions that are too many to name. She catches anticipation amongst one of them. Is it from him? Or from her?

"But...?" Keith's voice is a whisper, coaxing yet bracing against anything. This is...

His thumb finds and traces her hip bone. Allura shivers.

“I really want to kiss you, too.”

It’s hard to tell who leans in first. She thinks it’s him, as he draws in a sharp inhale before their lips meet in the middle. Through their link, he thinks it’s her, with how her chin lifts to accept his touch greedily and allows it to deepen. The touch of their lips pressing together is heaven, warm and soft. His lips are chapped and the scabbed cut on his lower lip scrapes against her but it cements this as reality. It makes her hungrier. Allura arches into him and presses her hands to his ribs to seek out the beating of his heart. It's intoxicating to feel it pound so fiercely against her palms. She wants... she wants...

She inhales through her nose and can’t find it in herself to care when his tongue drags over her lower lip and her entire body burns with excitement. Thrumming energy snaps and fizzles through her, like electricity popping through her nerves.

Her fingers link with his, and he turns them so that he’s on top. Keith dominates their kiss by pulling away, forcing her to chase after him with a groan. He dips back in and the sensation is just as good the second time. It causes them both to moan and sigh into each other’s lips. Allura’s mind spins, delirious with the feeling of so many thoughts and urges melting together like honey in their minds.

Keith pulls his arm from under her, resting it on the ground and incidentally right on her braid. The tug is sharp and snaps her from her heated trance. Allura hisses and he pulls away, breathing hard.

“You okay?”

She winces, “My hair, you’re on my…”

Keith blinks wide and shifts his weight again. They let go of one another as they maneuver. “Sorry, I didn’t mean…”

“It’s fine,” Allura says, and finds herself out of breath.

“No such thing as a perfect kiss,” she adds with an airy laugh.

He meets her gaze with and his gaze makes her spine straighten with attention. His lips curl into a soft smile, “Try again?”

She doesn't think actually answering is worth the response. She lets her body do that for her.

Her hands reach up to grip his neck and pull him down. Keith’s lips smolder against hers, less cautious now that she was eagerly pressing up against him. The feeling is fantastic, electric and rolling like a slow burn that has her too aware of his body against her and wanting to feel more. She wants more... oh stars, she  _needs_ more...

Keith breaks their kiss suddenly, gasping over her and resting his weight on an elbow over her head. She needs to tilt her chin up to meet his gaze and something about his position makes her shiver.

“I felt that,” he says, breathing hard despite the smile on his face. “More, huh?”

Allura’s cheeks burn furiously. Oh right, the link.

“We don’t have to if you don’t,” she stammers, swallowing thickly. “I mean, I didn’t realize—It’s just been so long since—“

“Allura,” Keith’s voice is low and grave with emotion. There is a firm desire in there and it makes her feel like the electricity has been dialed up to eleven. “I want to.”

Allura’s lips part in surprise, “You…?”

She’s stunned by his revelation and she can only stare up at him before the thought formulates in her mind.

_What about Shiro?_

Keith’s eyes soften with a strange sadness, but they fixate on her lips and Allura swallows nervously. He tilts his chin forward, brushing kiss-stung lips with the caress of his chapped ones and Allura wants so badly to surrender to him.

_He’s not the one I’m with right now._

Her body thrums with a rushing heat, the feeling of being touched and wanting Keith to keep going. Keith dips back down, pressing another kiss filled with intent against her lips. Allura moans, eyes rolling to the back of her head when his tongue flutters against her lips before joining hers to press and caress. His hips buck against hers and she feels it, that hardness again, but right between her legs. Her body feels like it could burn up a star. Yet there is a hint of knowledge that keeps her sober and from agreeing too quickly.

She finds her chance when his lips pull away from hers to taste her jaw.

“This," Allura gasps. Keith pulls away, panting above her. She trembles and grips to that little knowledge, like a cold stone in an inferno. She locks her knees and keeps going. "This... doesn’t change anything, does it?”

Keith frowns lightly, confused. She feeds her intention through their link and he understands.  _Shiro._

“No,” he says, honestly. “You’ll still feel the same.”

“As will you.”

_Will you still want this? Me?_

The possibility he could regret this later sends a shock of fear through her system, draws her stomach into tight knots. Keith pauses, staring down at her with wide eyes and his hesitation cools the heat in her blood. He doesn't need to answer... not when he isn't sure of it. Allura closes her eyes and wills away the way her chest dissolves, hollow and sad. Yet the turmoil of conflicting emotions stops. She doesn't think she could hold back from thinking about Shiro and she isn't sure how she would feel if she receives the same from Keith's side. This is all too complicated. Allura sighs and pushes him off.

Keith moves away reluctantly yet he makes no protest, sitting on his knees between her legs. The glow in her fingertips fades a little now that she feels so empty without him cradling her.

“I’ll go check on Red,” she says, voice somber. “I think we’ve satisfied the bond for now…”

Keith nods quietly. Allura composes herself, pushing herself to her knees before rising. She’s at the entrance of the shelter when he calls her name.

“Allura.”

She pauses and looks back, raising her hand to see him better. He’s still on his knees, facing away from her. “Stay close... we don't know if they're out there right now."

Allura nods, loathing the way her heart tumbles to the ground and decides this was for the best. She needs to sort this out before it gets out of control, anyway. They both do.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> slight masturbation warning for the first bit. safe to say this is where the M rating comes into play.

He’d been hasty, he knows that now. Perhaps propositioning her when they were both high on the energy of her healing bond had been a bad idea. Keith can almost hear Shiro sighing in his head with a smile saying, _“Hindsight is always 20/20, Keith.”_

Yet, Keith cannot shake the memory of her lips on his, their bodies flush together, hands dragging down curves before linking together. After days and weeks of cold hell and dealing with nightmares becoming _real_ , Allura’s presence and mind are a genuine calm and warm respite. An oasis, a grounding connection. It’s kept his mind from breaking, and he wonders if it’s done the same for her as it’s done for him. With the addition of this bond though…he can’t say he saw this coming. He doubts any of them did.

It was another hour or two before the distant light of sunrise began to break through the darkness. Keith hasn’t moved from his position aside from getting his breakfast rations and sulking in his same spot. His mind replays the events over and over. No matter what he does, he can’t shake it, the way her hands had trailed over his face, his chest, and somehow... deep into the very fabric of his soul.

Then that incident with her falling into the memory before Shiro left for Kerberos went and complicated things more than they already were. Reliving that moment was like experiencing it all over again. Seeing Shiro like that had awakened a warmth in him that Keith had been fighting off since his disappearance. More to protect himself from more unnecessary pain. He had been fairly proud of his efforts thus far. Every moment alone he had had up until this point had been spent polishing this careful wall of glass several yards thick against the severity of his emotions. The only ones he allowed to reflect through were ambition, determination, one-track mindedness, and the drive to keep searching.

Glass is strong and sure it can break, but against fire, it can hold its own... Allura didn't reach through by breaking or by shattering. She just needed to  _be._

Radiant, beautiful. Shining a light through him until everything was exposed under the glass and he was forced to face his demons. Forced to face the emotions waiting so patiently behind the glass. Before it was just the thoughts of Shiro that worried him, that would press hard against the defenses and threaten spider-web cracks all around him. He had done a good job by glossing them over.

 

But this... How do you defend against the light when it's needed? How do you defend against succumbing to your only source of survival?

Trick question: you don't.

Now, Keith is left staring through the glass and forced to make an honest choice about what step to take next. Because as of right now, it's not Shiro who's plaguing his thoughts. It's not Shiro who has him glaring at the hardness between his legs. It's  _her._

“Calm down,” he grumbles to himself, glaring at the tent bulging in his suit. “It’s just because of the bond…”

Keith draws in a tight breath and settles himself down on the ground forcefully, assuming a lotus position. His attempts to empty his mind and clear his head do nothing for him at first and when he thinks he's getting close to achieving clarity, his mind spirals back into that moment where he had Allura pinned to the ground, the way she had gasped and moaned beneath him, the way her mind betrayed the desire for  _more_...

Keith growls, dragging his hands down his face and groaning.

All of this is so confusing. What is happening to him?? He’s never felt this way before.

Well... perhaps, that wasn’t true either.

Keith shakes his head vigorously. He's never felt like this towards anyone other than  _Shiro._ To be honest, he hasn't thought he was even into girls all that much since no one on earth had ever attracted his attention to such a degree. Sure, he’s had sex with a girl before, and yes it did feel incredible… but that was a test, just to see how far curiosity would grant him. The only one who had left him craving for more than playful tugs on his hair and brotherly hugs had been Shiro.

Keith remembers despairing when he first realized the depths of his feelings. He threw himself into training, loathing himself for falling under stupid clichés like falling for his best friend, surrogate brother. _He’s like a brother to me…!_

Their lack of familial blood should have made the whole thing apparent. Keith isn’t an idiot. He knows that the brotherly bond thing has only been a means to put a name to their relationship. A safe way of explaining his devotion and integrity. Somewhere along the line though… that title didn’t seem enough anymore.

Then the news of the mission failure went public…

And all Keith felt for months was the weirdest calm—no…numbness. He didn’t cry. He didn’t break down. He just… got back to work. He threw himself into his training again and he swore to at least hold it together. He succeeded. Kept it up for weeks...

And then some stupid brat in the Garrison dissed Shiro, saying the entire thing was his fault, going on and on about a waste of money, of potential, and how he wasn't that big of a deal anyway because of where he came from. Keith’s fists shot out before he could think and before he knew it, he found himself surrounded by the wounded bodies of twelve kids and faced with a letter of expulsion. Having three security escorts lead him out would’ve probably left him smirking in the faces of the boys who deserved it. But he couldn’t even muster that.

Nothing helped.

Then the energy of the Blue Lion called to him… and it’s all history from there.

Now though… now everything is confusing.

Memories of Shiro and his presence seem to change now… and it’s so difficult to tell when it started. Could it have been because of the bond? Did he imprint on Allura because of it? Will it all fade and go back to normal once they get out of here, if they get out of here?

Keith sits back on the rock walls, sighing and hissing with discomfort at the pulsing between his legs. He considers himself for a moment, wondering the consequences. On the one hand, he’ll probably feel better and relieve tension. On the other… it could cause whatever he was feeling towards Allura to… worsen? Become stronger?

Keith glances at his food rations. Exercising would mean needing more sustenance later, and going by Red’s connection with him, her healing is still slow-going. He glances back down at the tent in his pants.

He reaches down slowly, palming himself to gauge the sensation. It sends a jolt of pleasure through him and Keith bites back a moan. He tests a harder grip and his body begins to succumb. Out of habit, he begins to picture Shiro, holding him close and whispering encouraging words in his ear.

Yet on the fifth stroke, it isn’t Shiro who’s in his arms. Allura’s voice sighs in his ears, her body soft and pliant beneath him, breasts tight against his chest as she moans.

_“Keith…”_

Keith’s hips jerk upwards when his mind takes an abrupt image elsewhere, one where Shiro’s gripping behind him, pressing his lips to his neck while Allura rubs herself on his lap, kissing him slowly. He’s torn between two desires and it causes his pleasure to crest until he’s certain he’s going to—to…

“Fuck!” Keith exclaims, ripping his hand off his lap and gasping. His body trembles and he can feel beads of sweat rolling down his temples. This isn’t right… it isn’t.

Keith shudders out a gasp and forces himself to his feet. A moment of contemplation leads him to snatch up a nutrient pack and storm out of the shelter. He can’t think like this. He needs to get away for a little while.

He sends Allura a quick probe through their link and finds her focused with healing Red. He’s grateful she’s none the wiser to his earlier actions.

_I’m going to scout around, be back soon._

He doesn’t expect her to answer and he’s glad she doesn’t. For the first time since he’s arrived at this stupid planet, the ocean tempts him to dunk himself into its frigid waters. He’s almost stupid enough to try it.

 

.x.

 

Allura sits on the top of a large sand dune by Red's leg as she shifts. Her body begins to strengthen from its weariness now that it's being nourished by the sunlight. With a sigh, she works on peeling off her suit from the neck to her waist. There's no wind today, and the waters of the beach move back and forth in lazy licks over the bruise colored sand. Allura pulls her arms out of her suit and wiggles the material down until it's past her waist and hanging off her hips. She adjusts the straps of her under wrap and pulls her hands underneath to adjust her breasts position until she's satisfied.

She leans back and lets the sunlight hit her, relishing the way its absorbed into her flesh and how her hair stretches behind her to receive as much as possible. While not entirely ideal, this was lucky. Keith doesn't need to worry about sharing his rations aside from maybe a food pack or two when she needs to actually feed. Still, what she wouldn't give for one of Hunk's home cooked meals. Bizarre as they were, they were usually delicious and hearty.

She'll have to make a special request to serve them a feast when they get out of here.

The sounds of footsteps and focused breathing break Allura from her reverie. She blinks her eyes open and spots Keith striding towards Red from the path. His eyes are on the ground ahead, a scowl present behind his raggedy hair. Allura pulls herself up to her feet and moves down to meet him.

"Morning, Keith," she calls out to him. He looks up, stumbles somewhat as he walks, but says nothing. If anything he acts like she's not there.

Allura frowns, matching his strides to meet and follow his quickened pace. "Are you alright? Where have you been all day?"

Keith brushes past her, eyes focused just ahead. He throws her a glance, one she bristles at in surprise before he keeps walking past her. Allura slows down until she's stopped walking, gaping after him. His entire outline is rigid with tension, focused and frustrated. Judging by the beads of sweat running down his forehead, Allura figures he must've been training, but that's ridiculous. Why would he need to train now? It's daylight. The safest time of the day. Right?

Allura purses her lips and hurries after him just as Keith presses a hand to Red's shield. It flickers and falls and without another word toward her, Keith walks past it. The barrier comes back up as soon as Allura takes a step after him. She yelps in surprise, nearly colliding with it with her nose. "Hey--Wha...?"

Keith doesn't acknowledge her and she watches through the red glow as the Lion lowers her body to open her jaw to him. He climbs up, hands clenching and unclenching at his sides before disappearing within the cockpit. The sight of that alone should've left Allura cheering with relief, but instead, she crosses her arms with a huff.

Once the sun broke over the horizon, Allura hurried to Red, hoping to channel all her turmoil into productive energy and spent most of the morning charging her as much as she could with her own quintessence. During short breaks, Allura had thrown concerned glances up to the ledge where the shelter stood. She worried about Keith but dared not pull at their bond. He has things to sort. So did she. Space will do them good.

So she left him alone. Even when he should've come down, Allura left him alone. Then he comes trudging down the path, looking high-strung and low-key furious. What on Altea's moon happened to him? 

Allura crosses her arms, struggling to keep her emotions from flaring and causing an even bigger issue than either of them need now. He's probably just... tired... or going through another episode...?

Why does this feel like she's being purposefully shut out?

Allura pulls her lips between her teeth and works very hard not to be annoyed or too concerned. Humans are different. Not just that, but Keith is also Galra. That race has always been so extreme with their emotions and their talk of honor and glory. There's no telling how much of that is a part of him. Patience, Allura. Patience.

What feels like eternities later and Allura having to sit on the sand to finish her feeding, Red's body abruptly surges with power, legs bending and rising as the Lion pushes itself up into a strong stance. A growl burns through its links to the world, and Allura scrambles up to her feet from the sand to gasp delightedly. "Thank the stars!"

This time Allura wastes no time testing her bond with Keith, ready to accept an eager response of good news. He beats her to the quick, cutting off the start of a happy thought with a sober one.

_She still can’t fly._

Allura's happiness hits a wall. Smile falling, Allura presses her hands together.

_Are you certain?_

_Something here is draining her… She can’t tell me what it is._

Allura approaches the Lion, quickening her strides to find a source of the leak. The Red Lion’s exoskeleton doesn’t appear disfigured or anything. Allura’s eyes scan over every inch of the red and white body, finding nothing that can explain the leak.

She sighs and presses her fingers against the pressure points on the bridge of her nose. By the Red Lion's nature and purpose, she should not be draining of this much energy at this rate. The Voltron Lions were some of the most sophisticated machines ever created, gathering their fuel and resource from the fabric of the universe itself, the energy that binds and makes life exist possible. So why? Allura closes her eyes and bites down on the inside of her cheek. The Lion is only as strong as its Paladin.

_You need to strengthen your bond with your Lion. It's the only way._

_I know that already._

Keith’s retort is curt, irate. Allura tries not to flare at his tone and manages to succeed… sort of.

_That’s not good enough, Keith._

_You are seriously the last person who should talk me that right now._

Allura bristles again, indignant.

 _What’s_ that _supposed to mean?_

Keith doesn’t respond and shortly after she feels him retreat far away from her. He hasn’t broken the bond (not like he knows how to) but he keeps himself distant and cold. It bothers her more than it should. In fact, it drills into her side until she feels her patience wearing thin.

_I'm not entirely sure how to read your behavior right now. What's wrong with you?_

_I’ve been stuck on this god-forsaken planet for weeks and I still can't get my Lion to fly. I highly doubt you'd find the bright side of this situation. Sue me._

Allura blinks in shock and crosses her fingers diplomatically. She closes her eyes, reaches out to him with a gentler touch.

_You weren’t acting like this before. Not to this degree… What’s wrong? You can tell me._

He says nothing after that and it becomes harder to read him. Not like she could from where she stands on the beach. Red’s head faces her and Allura wishes she could see through the Red Lion’s yellow eyes and into the cockpit. She settles on staring up at where she suspects Keith is ignoring her with a mixture of annoyance and concern. Too long a time passes and Allura's patience finally meets an end.

 _Fine,_  She snaps. _Be_ _like this. I’m going to the shelter. I need to think._

_Fine._

_Fine._

_Have a nice trip._

_I will._

_I'm glad to hear it._

_I’m glad you’re glad._

Annoyance wins over and Allura glares up at the cockpit. If she focuses enough, she can almost feel Keith returning her glare with a petulant one of his own. She’s almost tempted to stick her fingers up her nose at him and make a rude sound, but that would be beyond childish and she’s better than that. With a growl, Allura throws her hands up and spins in the direction of their beaten path. She's had enough of this.

After their mental spat, Allura storms up the incline, irritated and even a little stir-crazy. In her frustration, she spots a loose rock and swings a hard kick at it with her other foot. The rock flies a fair distance and she watches with satisfaction as it sails through the air. Her satisfaction gives way to a swift dread when it against her astral dial. Allura lets a despairing gasp as the contraption falls over with a squeal and crash. She hurries up to it, falling to her knees to pick up the pieces.

"No, no, no!" Allura cries as she snatches the pieces up and tries to return them to their previous position. The dial wobbles weakly in her hands before collapsing completely. Allura groans, seeking out a source of its systemic failure. She spots it after a close look. One of the major parts that held the balance had shattered, leaving her with nothing but broken machinery and useless wires. Her hands ball up into fists, and one of the metal pieces in her grip dents with a whine before she whirls around and throws it as hard as she can into the direction of the ocean.

Allura doesn’t watch it sail through the air. She spins on her heels and lets out a scream.

What was his problem?!

Doesn’t he understand that she was here to help him? Obviously not since he was throwing this foolish tantrum at her. This entire day he’s been acting like such a…a stubborn yalmor! Since this morning, after finishing another round of healing with Red, Keith decides he’d much rather be a million miles away from her. Now he refuses to even be near her, let alone touch her. Now this... weird behavior of pretending she wasn't even in front of him?

Did… did she offend him somehow?

Allura glares down at the broken astral dial and groans softly. Did refusing to sleep with him set him off somehow? Do earthlings become aggressive when rebuked from copulating? No… that doesn’t seem like something Keith would do. Then again...  _how much do I even know Keith?_ Is he capable of behaving like this?

Allura turns a little in the direction of the Red Lion. The massive red particle barrier remains untouched and undying. Through it, Allura can feel the ghost of their connection flicker in the back of their shared minds. She doubts she’ll receive an answer soon. All she can do is hope she isn’t mistaking the forest for the trees.

Allura sighs and turns back to her ruined sun dial, stares at the pieces of wire, rock, and tech with a dismayed glare. Unable to do much else, she begins to gather the pieces in hopes of rebuilding it, even without the piece she just tossed away.

 _"I know how you feel,"_ the memory comes at her without warning and Allura stops reaching for a piece just ahead of her. She can still feel his touch on her hand... She can still picture with clarity the way his eyes gazed at her caringly and with such understanding.  _"But you have to step away for a while. It's what's best for everyone."_

_Shiro._

Her heart is such in disarray.

Compared to the others… to Keith… she knows very little about him. The memory she witnessed from Keith’s memorandum only cements this knowledge. She only knows what she’s seen, the Shiro who’s led Voltron and fought at her side. The Shiro who stood his ground against her, who had no problem reminding her that despite all their efforts... they were all equal and capable of great feats. Even terrible ones. Their conversations were always respectful, empathetic, even borderline affectionate when things got private. Had they had more time, Shiro would have been her second, her confidant and advisor... perhaps more...

He assisted her multiple times, grounded her, kept her from overworking herself and extended himself outward to make sure everyone was alright when she was too weak to do it on her own.

In comparison to the love Keith has… she feels like hers was barely that of a budding love. An inexperienced infatuation. With the devotion of someone as passionate and caring as Keith, and with the history they share… there is no reason why Shiro would choose her.

The thought cuts through her. Yet Allura clenches her fist.  _Enough._

Why does this matter now? Who cares who he chooses so long as they find him, alive and well, and reunite him with the team, proceeding to liberate the universe from Zarkon’s Empire?

There’s no space for romance in this endeavor. Not if it frustrates the connections between the Paladins and their Lions!

And that’s when it hits her.

Allura sits up, from where she was fixing her dial, eyes wide and lips parted as an epiphany washes over her.

_That's it... that's been it all along!_

Without another thought, Allura stands and whirls around, bursting into a run down the beaten path and towards the Red Lion. Her body is alive with energy, as though this revelation connected her to a live wire and left her charged.

As she hurries down, Allura compiles all her thoughts into words and logic, preparing to let Keith know in hopes that it will work. When she reaches the bottom and heading down the beach it all comes together. And with good timing.

As she approaches she sees Keith climbing down Red’s ramp--his helmet cradled under one arm while he scratches his head with his other hand—Allura raises her voice and calls out to him.

“Keith!”

He jumps, nearly dropping his helmet as he composes himself. Keith turns to face her, eyes wide with surprise and growing alarm. He averts his gaze for a moment, cheeks burning pink beneath the sunlight. Only this time when he does look up at her, he seems to register the urgency in her as she sprints over the sand to reach him.

“Allura?”

_What is it? What’s wrong?_

He begins running toward her until she starts slowing down. They meet half-way, with Allura panting and Keith searching her gaze with concern and confusion. She opens her mouth but hesitates, suddenly aware that if she’s not careful, their situation can become further complicated.

“Well?”

“I figured it out,” Allura says after a short moment. “I know why the Red Lion isn’t healing.”

Keith straightens, looking at her seriously. “Why? What is it?”

Allura takes a moment to swallow and steel herself, hoping.

“It’s Shiro,” she says. “It’s because of Shiro, Keith.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter will be very nsfw. like. VERY NSFW. so... that's your warning.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Only the Winds - nautik remix. By Olafur Arnalds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this chapter is nsfw. VERY nsfw. borderline E rating. So this is your warning. If you don't want to read it there'll be a small recap in the beginning of next chapter.

He’s pacing again, this time by her half-fixed astral dial and muttering indistinct words to himself. Allura's nails dig into her palms the more he paces, and tries not to let it bother her. Instead, she draws calming breaths as best she can as her words settle between them. It's difficult to do so when Keith looks like he's going to burst into a run at any moment but doesn't. At the very least she's not letting her irritation in through the link.

“It’s not working,” Keith barks at her as he paces, “I can still feel it even if you try and hide it."

Allura blinks in surprise, "Since whe--"

"You're not exactly a blank slate, Allura." Keith's tone is biting. He's still refusing to look straight at her. "You've been projecting your emotions since this afternoon."

She doesn't even try to argue, knowing full well that if she did they'd get off track from the real issue at hand. She fights off the urge to scowl and tries another calming breath. She makes a gesture to the spot of sand in front of her.

"Would you like to sit?"

"No."

Her eyebrows twitch and Allura's fingers curl into a trembling fist. She's up on her feet a moment later, digging her heels down and tucks her lower lip between her teeth. After her burst of energy that led to her running down the path to meet Keith, Allura led him back up the ledge, wanting to make sure she had his complete and undivided attention as she expressed her thoughts. A conversation of such weight demanded to be shared whilst sitting. She had hoped it had remained that way but alas...

She tries not to let his anxious energy get under her skin and so she remains calm and collected.

“Well, I wouldn’t feel so nervous if you stopped pacing,” Allura says curtly, crossing her arms. ...Okay, maybe not so calm and collected.

“Pacing helps me think," Keith responds.

Allura appraises him with raising eyebrows, “Since when?”

He shoots her a dry glare. At last, he looks at her!

“You’re sure about this?” he asks, pausing in his pacing.

Allura's lips part in surprise before they close back together in a certain line. To drive it further home, she nods and takes a step forward. He continues pacing before she can reach out and touch him.

“Yes,” Allura says. “Given this entire scenario, I can't think of a better reason."

Keith stops moving and presses a gloved hand to his forehead. “Run it by me again.”

“Your connection and affection for Shiro have become a turmoil since he disappeared,” Allura says, and bites her nails into her palms when he starts pacing again. “I’ve sensed it from you many times but I never understood the depths of it until last night. This fear of never seeing him again… the pain of never confessing your feelings for him… it’s frustrated your connection to your Lion.”

Keith takes this in quietly, his pacing slows and stops a few feet to her right. At this angle she can't see his face, just the line of his jaw and the sway of his hair as a breeze picks up around them. A muscle in his jaw twitches as his hands flex and tighten at his sides. Without warning, he turns and looks at her, eyes piercing right into hers. Allura swallows.

“So, what? What does this mean? I should just get over Shiro?”

Allura feels the tension again. This time, she's prepared. She prepared herself for this exact reaction the second after she decided to tell him. Allura draws a line of soothing energy in her mind and remains calm. “No, not exactly. It just… you need to find closure, a resolution.”

“And how do you suggest I do that? Besides the obvious fact that I’ve been searching for him nonstop for these past few months.”

Allura ignores the bite in his words rubs a palm over her exposed collarbone, fingers fidgeting against her neck. “...Are you afraid we’ll never find him again?”

“No,” he says this defiantly, but he looks away as soon as he does.

Allura wilts, “Keith…”

“UGH!!” he exclaims, whirling to face her. “Fine! I’m afraid we’ll never find him! I’m afraid that even if we search the entire known universe, I won’t find Shiro. I’m afraid that if I’m not the one to save him, that if I don’t finally tell him everything, I’ll _lose_ everything… I’ll lose him forever.  And I… I can’t…”

Keith's shoulders slump forward, his eyes falling to the ground as the wind tosses his raggedy hair. He runs gloved hands against his forehead, pressing his hair behind him as he turns away and faces the ocean. It's picked up its movement, waves rising and falling in bursts of dark foam and unsteady lines.

“I’m a coward,” Keith says quietly. “I can't even do the one thing he asked me to do if this happened because... because I'm afraid that if I do it makes this _real_. The others… the others just _don’t get it._ Besides you and… and maybe Pidge… no one understands what it’s like to not have a single shred of evidence or proof that he's out there and that he's alive. I'm terrified, Allura... that I'll never find him and that we'll have to move on, or _worse..._ ”

He lowers his hands, holding a palm up for him to stare into, "I don't want that."

Allura moves closer to him, feet moving before she can understand why and she circles around until she’s standing right in front of him. His eyes are downcast, glaring at his palm.

“Keith, I can’t promise we’ll find him.” She takes his hand in hers turning it until she can coax her fingers between his and his hand goes lax against her skin. She can feel his warmth through the glove's material and somehow that gives her strength. When she looks up at him, he’s staring at her with eyes that are straining to be strong. “But you don’t have to do this alone anymore.”

Keith’s lips tighten once and he lets out a shudder. Allura reaches for his other hand and he relinquishes it easily. She brings their joined hands together and steps in close enough to see even the smallest of scratches on his face.

“We’re in this together…" she says, breaks the connection of one of her hands on his to touch his cheek. To her relief, he leans into it. "So we’ll get out of this together.”

He opens his eyes again and she finds herself caught in them yet again, caught by that curious tug of indigo in his gaze, the electric sensation that courses between them. Her eyes fall to his mouth before she can think. When she looks up at his eyes, she finds them staring at her lips and the electricity tugs them closer. The same feeling. Stronger this time. It takes hold so quickly.

“Allura,” he says her name softly. Allura can only pull him close until their foreheads rest together and he can lower his defenses enough for her to console him. Somewhere along the line though, Allura can’t tell which one of them moves first.

Perhaps it's the desire to move, or the hope to find more comfort. But suddenly his lips are on hers again and when he does the sensation lights her on fire from the inside out. He  _needs_ this. They both do. So Allura allows the flames to spread and swallow them both whole.

 

.XxX.

 

They stumble into the shelter in drunken movements, nearly slamming into the sand-caked walls as Keith’s arms grip around her waist, digging into her hair. Allura gasps against him, arching into his hold and moaning when he angles her down to press them closer together. They fall against one of the walls, the sank scratches roughly against her skin but Allura doesn't care, all she wants is his hands bruising against her flesh, drawing tight sounds of need and wanting. They end up on the ground, with Allura straddling him as he kneels beneath her.

Their lips bruise and burn together. Nipping and biting until their skin blooms red and stung. It's a sensation that borders on painful, but Allura doesn't pull away and neither does he. At one point, his hands fall away from her hips, leaving her clinging to him with shaking fingers. It feels too much like being caught in the middle of a wild storm. Allura tugs her face away to meet his eyes, sees the indigo overwhelmed by the expanding rim of his pupils, drinking her in with desire. She grinds down against him and he gasps into her mouth, leaving them both panting.

"Hah...  _Ah... Allura._ "

His gauntlets come off just as she wriggles her hands under his chest plate, pulling the armor off and not caring where it falls. They collide together again, sharing a kiss that is all fire and desperation, need and unbelievable desire. Allura shivers when Keith’s tongue coaxes her lips to part and slides against hers in slick touches that wrench moans from her throat. She responds by reaching into his hair and pulling. It's a confusing battle between wanting to melt themselves into one another and yanking off the last of his armor.

 _“Mm,_ Keith,” Allura moans when the last of his armor is thrown off, leaving him in his skin tight suit. Her fingers seek out the switch of his suit, momentarily distracted when his mouth finds a spot under her jaw and his teeth sink into her skin. Allura's spine arches and bows, pressing herself harder into his embrace. Something about him biting and sucking her skin makes her feel wild.

His hands are on her hips again, guiding her into a rutting rhythm that makes her eyes roll into the back of her head. Somehow she manages to clear her mind enough to return to her original plan. Her fingers find the switch and she presses hard. It expands, losing the suction on his skin. She finds the opening in the front and she doesn't hesitate any further. She digs her nails and fingers under it to touch him.

Keith shivers out her name in response when his hands grip her hips tighter, rolling his hips harder into hers. Allura gasps, arches her hips into his touch, drawing out a delicious hiss from behind his teeth when her thigh rubs against the hardness between his. They're kissing again, sharing breaths and sinking teeth into lips until they're certain to be covered in marks and bruises. Allura shifts her weight onto her knees, lifting herself off from his lap. She likes the way his head tilts back to chase her mouth. He makes a noise of protest, his hands--now gloveless--greedily tug at her hips and the material of her suit still snug around her pelvis.

“ _Mm,_ J-just to be sure,” Allura says between gasps and little moans, “You do want this, right?”

Keith's blink open to gaze at her, the passion in his eyes can be easily mistaken for fury but Allura isn't afraid of it. He nods, licks his kiss-stung lips and continues running his hands up her sides. With his suit mostly out of the way and the gloves off, his skin on hers is the most delicious sensation.

“Yeah, you?” he says as she ducks back down to kiss him. His voice thrums against the sensitive parts of her mouth. “You’re not having second thoughts, are you?”

“No,” she says quickly. How fast is her heart going? She feels like her chest is going to explode.  “I mean, we were just talking about Shiro just now and this situation between us isn’t exactly simple…”

“Allura,” he interrupts her and the passion softens to expose need. “I really, _really_ want you right now. Let’s figure that part first, okay?”

“Yes, okay,” she says, and it’s all she needs before she pushes him onto his back roughly. Keith gasps loudly as she settles her weight astride him. Her hands push and part the slit of his suit with enough strength that the material lets out a strained sound. Immediately his skin is exposed to her eyes, and she stares down appreciatively at the firmness of his muscles, the beading sweat over his abs and ribs, down to the attractive dip of his hip bones and gentle dusting of dark hair that thickens the further down it goes. She licks her lips before she looks up at him.

Keith’s staring up at her, mouth parted in awe, cheeks flushed darkly. Through their link, she feels his desire skyrocket making a shiver of goosebumps to burn through his skin. Allura feels a tingle of nerves in her stomach when she feels his gaze carving into her with yearning. 

“T-the sand,” she explains through a stammer.  “if we do it like this, it won’t get all over the place.”

“Right,” he says, nodding. He swallows and reaches for her quickly after that. Judging by the excitement pulsing from his side of the link, she doubts he’s even considered the possibility of sand. She realizes then, that he’s much more interested in seeing her mount him, and the knowledge and image of her sitting on his lap, wet and wanting, leaves her shivering.

This position is prime for Keith to seize his hands against her ribs and to pull the wrap over her chest. Her breasts bounce at the gruff movement, falling to the heat of his fingers and becoming exposed to the warm air. It’s shocking, and she gasps but her sharp intake of breath dissolves into a moan when his hands gather her breasts and knead her nipples between his fingers. Allura pushes her chest forward, her hips rubbing harder against his lap. Keith drags his thumbs against the tips and sparks embers of molten desire through her body that course and pool between her legs.

Allura's voice hitches in a tight moan, eyes closing in pleasure and reaching up to place a hand on his shoulder as his ministrations leave no bit of flesh untouched. He pauses to marvel at a glowing pink mark just over her sternum. Curiously, he swipes it with a thumb.

A feeling like being struck by lightning wrenches into her and Allura lets out a cry of pleasure. Keith's eyes widen and he does it again and she shudders out a moan. He moves his hands away from her breasts too soon and Allura groans out a protest when he sits up again and presses his palms over her buttocks, shoving her hard toward him until her mound rubs his erection through their suits.

He’s already working her into a rhythm and Allura lets her nails find his back and scalp. He arches his head back, lips parting in search of a kiss and she meets him eagerly.

It feels too good, each drag of their hips becoming intoxicating and addicting. It’s a slow, steady rhythm, and Allura wants to push him over the edge. Their tongues slide and rub together, and he runs his over the roof of her mouth, making her groan.

His hands pull at her suit, struggling to pull the material down her hips.

“A-Allura, I want..." he trails off and she feels powerful when she realizes he's pleading. She teases him a little more, undulating her hips with a more sensual purpose that has Keith's breaths come out in tight little gasps. She likes the way he looks up at her, the way his teeth bite down on his lower lip to restrain himself. He has no idea what he does to her. Allura is loath to seperate herself from him for long, and so she hurries to push away from him. His noise of protest is silenced when she presses a quick kiss to his aching lips. She shifts up to help him pull the constricting suit from her body, already missing the way her chest would rub against his and how his hands would dig against her hip bones.

Allura stands on shaking legs, reaching up to her neck where the clip of her wrap lays over her throat. Like his suit, it loses suction over her skin, falling apart easily. She looks down at him and sees that same look of awe in his gaze. Where she's standing she can see the tight tent over his suit, the way he licks his lips as she pulls the wrap over her head.

His side of the link tingles with excitement. She doesn't know where it comes from but an urge to slow down her shaky movements has her calm down  enough for her to hook her thumbs into her suit and slide it all the way down. The material pools around her ankles and she tugs her feet from the boots and steps out into the sand and rock. It's not a very pleasant sensation but she shrugs it off when she straightens up over Keith, stretching to her full height.

A tight sound like a swallowed groan reaches her ears from Keith as his eyes roam up from her ankles, legs, and finally pause over the apex of her thighs. His expression darkens and he pushes himself up to his knees hurriedly. Allura watches him with growing confusion as he reaches for her thighs and makes no move to stand up. Her eyes grow wide when he gathers her legs around his arms, his hands roaming up the erogenous zones of her lower back and under her buttocks. What shocks her is when he leans forward and presses a kiss to her lower belly where another sensitive pink mark rests and slinks down towards her entrance.

Her legs feel like jelly and she presses a hand to a wall, the other to his head. Allura gasps and her hips jut forward when he sinks down a little lower, sucking gently at the mark and teasing her with the lightest drags of his tongue.

" _N-nnn_ ," her tongue feels heavy and useless in her mouth, no amount of concentration can help her speak her confusion.

_Wh-what are you doing?_

_Tasting you._

He says this as if it's the most obvious thing. He goes even lower and Allura's legs spread to let him sink his chin until his mouth is right up against her slit, and his tongue takes in an experimental lick. 

Allura's hands grab onto his hair, mind spinning as she pulls him away. He makes another noise, sounding more surprised than protesting but that sound is muffled when she falls to her knees in front of him and she slams her mouth into his. She feels a streak of warmth land over her lower back. Sunlight. It’s so hot. His skin. The air. The sensation of her suit peeling off her legs. Everything is just so hot.

She pushes him back until she's sitting on his lap again, "I want you-- _nngh--_ I want..."

Keith catches on and gathers her jaw with his hands, gripping to her neck and angling her head until their mouths can slot harder together. She wants more than this. She wants him all over her, around her,  _inside her..._

"K-Keith!!" she cries as she throws her head back. One of his hands trail down the front of her belly, finding the pink marks again and rubbing languid circles with his thumb. Allura whimpers, feeling each touch yank a jolting sensation in her that makes her twitch.

"Th-This is unfair," Allura groans. "You know just where to touch m-me... _ah!"_

"Nothing unfair about it," Keith says through a smug smile. "I'm just that good."

Allura meets his pleased gaze with an unimpressed look. A snort blows from her nose when the amusement is too much and she lets out a giggle.

"Careful," she warns teasingly, "You're starting to sound like Lance."

Keith's smug expression dissolves into exasperation. "Please don't compare me to him when I'm trying to sleep with you. He's the last thing I want on my mind right now."

"Fair enough," Allura laughs again and it's contagious enough to pull at his lips and have him roll his eyes at her good naturedly. 

He pulls away, ducking down to kiss down her chest. Allura arches her back, urging him to kiss her where she wants him to. Keith doesn’t waste time and draws a nipple into his mouth and sucks  firmly, flicking his tongue against the hardened tip quickly. Allura’s moan breaks into a louder groan.

“You… so good, oh, you’re so good…” Allura sighs and feels a twitch against her thigh and he hums. She blinks, drowsy with pleasure but not so far gone she doesn’t notice. “Keith, you’re so wonderful.”

She feels it again and Keith lets out a low growl, nipping at her skin. “You like that?” he asks huskily when he parts to breathe against her skin.

“Y-yes,” Allura moans and stutters when one of his hands trails between her legs and finds her slit. His fingers against her folds are delicious and Allura throws her head back when they rub back and forth, teasing her. It's firmer than when he tried with his tongue earlier, but it's still not enough. It's...

“O-oh, stars,” she breathes. Not one to be outdone, Allura grinds her hips against his hand, lifting her head to meet his gaze head on. There’s fire and arousal and so much more in his gaze that Allura’s hands move before she can stop herself. They trail down, delighting in the hardness of his muscles, the smoothness of his skin. She parts the suit further and feels a smile tug over her lips when her hands dig into his suit where he’s hardest.

Keith’s back goes ramrod straight, hissing and groaning when she draws him out of his suit and holds him in her hands certainly. She pulls away enough to look between their bodies, finds his arm and wrist before his hand disappears beneath her, but her eyes hone in on the organ that strains between her fingers. The juxtaposition of her dark skin over his flushed flesh makes her hum and she returns his teasing touches with a seductive pull of her own.

Keith sucks in a breath when she strokes him with a gentle grip. It's her turn to marvel at him, eyes wide as he tries to contain his breathing. Allura does it again, tightening her grip just enough to draw a groan from his chest and leave him bucking against her strokes.

“Allura, Allura, oh _god,_ Allura,” Keith moans her name over and over. There it is again... that feeling of power and delight at causing such noises to erupt from his throat uninhibited. It’s so pleasing to feel him panting and gasping that Allura desires to drag more from his throat.

“You like that?” she repeats his question back at him.

It’s enough to snap him out of his pleasure-filled haze and meet her eyes with a determined expression.

“N-not yet,” he says, voice low and his fingers return to their rubbing. Allura feels her stomach flare at his comment but bites her tongue when his thumb seeks out the very lip of her entrance, pulling back and forth as if searching. Allura looks up into his eyes, finds his eyebrows furrowed with some confusion before she lowers her hands to meet his, directing his touch lower and then inside of her. Keith's eyes widen when his fingertips graze a pearl-shaped bit of flesh over the top of her walls. He presses against it and Allura bites down hard on her lips, a loud moan escaping anyway.

The feeling like being struck by lightning comes back but with fervor. It fades as soon as it comes, leaving her gasping. He does it again and it's almost too much, making her feel a slight numbness in her fingers and toes.

"N-not so hard," she stammers. Keith's eyes are wide again, marveling before a flash of creativity takes place. He focuses his touch in leisurely circles and suddenly Allura slumps over him, moaning deep and low. He angles his touch again, this time rubbing up and down and Allura whimpers--high and loud--head falling forward against his shoulder and she lets him go to grip on to his back.

“G-good... so good... you're doing so well--MM!" Allura pulls herself up, shaking even as she digs her fingers against his neck and jaw, fixing a hot gaze into his eyes. "But I need more than that... I need  _you."_

“Where?” he asks, pushing his fingers deeper into her until he brushes another spot that has her eyes rolling to the back of her head. For a moment Allura forgets to breathe let alone speak and after a time she pulls her mind together to compose her thoughts into a single plea.

“I-inside me…” she manages after he presses again and she sees the stars that have been eluding them these past few nights. Keith hums in appreciation, pressing a kiss to her shoulder. For the first time, she senses trepidation from him.

“Will—uh, will it be okay?” he asks, and she’s grateful for their link (she suspects he is too) when he clarifies through their link.

“I’m not in cycle,” she says. “I want you. Spend in me.”

Something about those words breaks him, and Keith pulls away quick to adjust her over him. He draws in a slow breath as he grips and aligns himself against her entrance before he meets her gaze. They stare into each other’s eyes as he begins to drag her down.

Allura’s eyelids flutter, arching her hips to accept him. At this angle, she feels him rub against her sensitive spot and they share a moan as she takes him in deeper and deeper. After a certain point, Allura whines, fingers scrape hard into his shoulders.

“Wh-what's wrong?” Keith asks, sounding panicked. “Am I hurting you?”

“J-just a moment,” she says and pulls back to press kisses to his face. Her walls flutter and strain against him. It’s been so, so long…

Keith draws in a calming breath, swallowing thickly as she adjusts to his size. Allura groans and sinks a little further down, taking him in by inches and shaking hard against him. The rest of the way down, her fingernails scratch his back, leaving bright red welts to bloom beneath them.

_T-Tight... so tight!_

_I'm almost... almost..._

When she bottoms out they both release a breath and she shifts a bit to wrap her legs around him. His arms circle around her waist and back, digging up to press his hands against her scalp.

“You okay?” he asks, voice straining. He presses a kiss to her temple, just over her cut.

Allura nods, pulling back her head to seek out a kiss from his lips. He takes her in gently, the urgency paused as she becomes accustomed. It’s a sweet eternity of them holding one another closely before his hardened length inside her gives a slight twitch. She feels it right against her pearl. She wants to move.

“Keith,” she sighs and he understands effortlessly.

He offers a position through their link and she shivers at the idea of her on her back and with him plowing into her. The thought of having to deal with rough sand and gritty rock dispels the appeal. Keith understands and Allura unwraps her legs from around him.

It’s a little uncomfortable but when she’s finally straddling him, he begins to lean back and she follows him down.

“Ready?” he asks, steady even as sweat slides down his forehead.

“ _Stars,_ yes,” Allura sighs.

His hands return to the taut flesh of her ass, grabbing firmly and urging her to rise. Allura follows, placing her weight on her knees as she arches her hips up. Sliding up and feeling him drag up and then down is amazing, the pearl-like organ inside her and near her entrance brushes against his shaft with every rise and fall, leaving her slick and tingling with pleasure. She gets the idea quickly and on the third upstroke, Allura presses her arms against his chest, her forehead falling to rest against his.

They breathe each other in as she begins to ride him, bucking her hips harder and harder until Keith is returning his own strokes with a ferocity of his own. His hips buck up and the force has him strike that one spot he's teased earlier. Allura cries out, throwing her head back and feeling him do it again.

“AH!” she shouts, “Keith!”

Keith growls and she senses he’s dug his heels into the sand. The added leverage has him fully slamming up into her. The muscles within clench and slide against his hardness, drawing moans and grunts from the two of them. Suddenly his grip on her hips changes, arching her up at an angle and he’s striking a zone that forces a series of loud whines to burst from her throat. His hips stagger when she grinds harder against him but their rhythm continues, uninterrupted.

Allura gasps and swallows air and yet for all the air thrust into her lungs feels like it’s not enough. Her eyes well up, and her body feels like it is being torn apart in the best way possible. She opens her eyes to see Keith’s focused gaze fixed right on her. His mouth is parted to let in hissing breaths and sharp exhales she’s only heard in the context of him exerting himself through training. Only this time it's much more erotic and sensual. She doubts she’ll be able to hear him training again without thinking back to this moment.

Keith’s lips pull up, exposing his canines in a feral smirk that’s all too ravenous and mischievous. The sight makes her flush hot and wet. The link…

Before she could so much as voice a witty response back, he reaches up to press a sweaty palm to her jaw and neck. The kiss he invades her mouth returns all the fire and passion they've left on pause, scorching her with its intensity. Suddenly, she's overcome by the sensation of pressure against her, of her hips moving with ferocity, of the grunts of effort in her chest. It's so strong it leaves her blank, before she comes to the realization that she's feeling everything Keith is feeling now. Allura’s body begins shaking.

The building pressure crests into a wave of monstrous proportions, tugging her moans and sighs into whines that pitch higher and higher the more Keith jettisons them both into the climb. Her eyes roll to the back of her head and Allura feels it wipe her mind white.

“K-Keith—Kei—” his name shatters in her throat as her entire body erupts into sweet, sweet bliss. She clings tightly to him until she can no longer hold on and falls limp against his body. Still he slams into her, drawing out the overwhelming orgasm. Somewhere along the line, his hand is gone from her neck and teasing the junction of their union, rubbing against her folds until she’s twitching violently and unable to breath, let alone try to call his name again.

_Keith, Keith, oh, Keith!_

_Allura, oh god, you feel so good, you’re so wet and tight—_

Another climax strikes her, forcing her jaw open and tearing another cry from her throat until it’s too much and she goes silent. It ends an eternity later, and Allura blinks away overwhelmed tears. Keith’s still breathing against her ear, though there was an edge of frantic need that gusts each exhales with a desperate groan.

She tests the bond and feels their shared pleasure amplified through his body. Allura wants to be impressed with his endurance, but she feels that the peak of his own pleasure seems to elude him somehow, making his fingers dig harder and harder into her skin. Keith’s eyes clench tight, sweat pearling at his brow before sliding down his nose and cheeks. To aid him, Allura pushes from inside, dragging a muscle she hasn’t used in a very long time. Deep from within, she pushes until she can feel his shallow thrusts. With it, she seizes him, and Keith lets out a choked cry of alarm. She feeds him information through their link, letting him know of the bit of her that is so alien to him Keith is struck momentarily dumb with shock.

Before he can pull out in surprise, Allura curls around him, holding him fast before stroking up and down, matching his staggering rhythm. She does not need to search for long and finds a sensitive spot just beneath the head of his shaft. Keith lets out a shout that drags into a moan. Allura shifts her hips and rolls them. She arches back until she can reach with her fingers to trace a tight pucker of muscle. It’s more than enough.

"A-Allura... I-I'm...!!" Keith cries before his body seizes tight beneath her and Allura squeals.

A surge of warmth bursts inside of her, a hot pleasurable heat that has her sigh along with his choked moan of pleasure and relief. They both still for a moment, tense and tight until the wave dissipates from them both and they collapse in a heap of tangled limbs and desperate breathing.

Keith pants against her lips, occasionally tasting her with his tongue. Allura's mind slowly cools from their shared passion. As it does, she wonders what she must taste to him. He tastes alien to her. An odd sort of bitter tang that isn’t unpleasant and has the potential to be addictive.

Neither of them move for a long while, spun tight and high in their shared afterglow. It isn’t until the light in their shelter dims that Keith moves his arms from her hips to draw shapes and figures on the muscles of her back. Allura hums softly, groggily presses a kiss to his collarbone and trailing up to meet his lips yet again.

Absolutely addicting.

It’s not enough for her to deal with the discomfort of her knees tugged to her chest. Allura rises shakily and pushes herself up, feeling him slide out of her. Keith makes a noise of protest, but when she looks up at him, his eyes are closed and his lips form the ghost of a satisfied smile.

Allura removes herself, feels the sticky sensation between her legs dribble and run down her thighs. It’s somewhat uncomfortable, but oddly erotic.

_Definitely erotic._

Allura laughs, voice hoarse and deep from overuse. She blinks and sees him looking at her, eyes crinkled with an emotion that tugs at her heart. He reaches up and tugs her down until they’re flush together side by side. Allura hides a delighted smile against his chest and raises an arm up to rest over his shoulder. She teases his scalp with soft touches.

“I think,” Allura says after their breathing slows enough to share conversation. “That was much better than the last time I had sex.”

“I agree,” Keith says. “But I’m usually better than most people at most things so I’m not surprised.”

Allura turns her head to nip at his collarbone, which draws a spent chuckle from him.

“Did… this help?”

She feels him consider her words before concluding, “Yeah… yes.”

Allura nods and presses her lips to where she bit him. “I’m glad then.”

“I…want to run by something with you,” he says after a while and she can feel his chest tighten with nerves. She doesn’t pry at their link, waiting for him to tell her when he’s ready.

“What is it?” she asks when he takes a little longer than she expects him to. Allura glances up at him and sees a frown tug at his eyebrows. “Keith?”

“Just…try not to be freaked out by it… or whatever. If you are just let me know and I’ll… I’ll have to figure it out, I guess.”

“Very well,” she says and waits patiently. Suddenly, she feels him pull at their link and she follows the pull until she lands in the middle of a thought, an…idea? No…

_The image of Allura on Keith’s lap is not what surprises her. She’s naked, her long white hair draped over a shoulder as Keith drags slow kisses up the slope of her neck and tugs her against him in a slow rhythm. What does surprise her is that in this idea, Shiro’s sitting behind Keith, pressing his lips to his neck before tugging Allura in into a kiss while Keith increases the rhythm between them._

Oh...  _oh._

It’s a fantasy.

Beyond that thought, there lies a desire, one where they are with Shiro, foreheads pressed closed and arms holding each other.

Allura draws in a tight breath, surprised.

_Keith…_

_This way… no one gets hurt. If we find him…_

_When._

Keith smiles into their bond and she’s overcome by a wave of affection so deep it leaves her momentarily weak and warm.

_When we find him…I don’t want there to be any conflict between us. I don’t want there to be a part of us that must choose one or the other._

_So… what you’re saying is…_

_I want Shiro. That isn’t going to change… but I also want to be with you._

_You…you want me?_

Keith shifts and she opens her eyes to see him settle over her. His hand tilts her chin and he presses a kiss to her lips, gentle and deep.

“Of course, I do,” he says against her mouth, earnest. He pulls away and she sees his gaze settle firmly on her lips. “I think my biggest conflict has been trying to figure out what I want… I spent all day trying to figure out if it was worth it. But it’s like you’ve said, I couldn’t bond with Red because I couldn’t figure out what I needed, about Shiro… about you. I think this is the best way I can solve this.”

He gazes into her eyes and she finds a vulnerability in his that takes her breath away.

“I realized this, earlier, when you took me in and I was so close to bursting that all I could think about was how good you felt, how much I don’t want to let that go.”

Allura’s eyes flicker back and forth between his until her chest can’t handle looking directly into him anymore. He’s exactly like his element. A brilliant fire that shines without shame. Bashfully, she says,  “I don’t want to let go, either.”

Keith’s lips quirk into a smile before he schools it back into a carefully open expression.

“So… you’re okay with that?”

Allura smiles and her smile broadens into a grin. “If it means your happiness and my own… then yes.”

Keith’s expression lights up, brighter than she’s ever seen it. He ducks down and captures her lips in a passionate caress. Allura moans into it, letting him part her lips with his own sensually to drag their tongues together. It’s a sloppy kiss, but one that sends shivers up and down her spine. Her chest tingles especially and Keith drags a slow hand over to her breasts and thumbs a sensitive nipple. Allura’s back arches instinctively. She lets him drag touches over her until her sighs pick up speed and he’s groaning into her neck.

Before it can escalate any further, Allura presses a hand to his shoulder. Keith lifts himself off and presses another kiss to her mouth.

“Although,” Allura says a moment after they part. “Our biggest challenge will be convincing him, assuming he loves either of us that way.”

Keith shakes his head. She loves the way his hair sticks up in funny angles when he does that.

“If I know Shiro as good as I do, then I’m not too worried.”

“What makes you say that?”

He looks up at her with a teasing smile. “I dunno, he seemed pretty crazy about you last I saw.”

Allura’s cheeks burn and she digs her head against his neck. “Shut up,” she groans against him. “Don’t be such a tease.”

Keith laughs softly and Allura returns it. “Though, I don’t think you need be worried either.”

“What makes you say that?”

She rewards him with a memory of the last time they were all together, one where she saw Shiro staring after Keith as Keith walked away. His expression was warm, pining. Keith draws in a gasp of his own when the memory fades. He looks down at her, and Allura gives him a warm smile, open and loving.

“Something tells me he may already like you as much as I’m starting to.”


	9. Chapter 9

Blue eyes flutter open to see the dark blue and purple ceiling, streaked with the fading colors of the sunset. Allura groans and shifts, feeling her body ache and throb all over, particularly on her knees, her hips, and between her thighs. The sand beneath her naked body is gritty and uncomfortable as it's not nearly thick enough to protect from the harder rock beneath. Despite this, she feels something over her body, like a sheet. She pushes herself up to her elbows and glances down. Immediately she looks away, blinded by the light reflecting off the thermal foil over her body. Her left arm reaches to her side, seeking another warm body instinctively. She finds nothing and the panic that rises to her throat dies a quick death when she spots a shadow near the entrance of the shelter.

Keith is sitting at the mouth of their little hovel with his back facing her. She sits up with a light groan, noticing how his suit is back up around his legs and hips, hanging off his waist. His hair moves gently in the cool breeze, long enough to tease his spine. The sunlight is fading, just about to die beneath the horizon. The orange glow is still warm, yet Allura shivers as the foil sheet around her falls to her waist. Despite the crinkling of the sheet around her and the light sounds she makes, Keith makes no effort to turn around to face her.

Through the bond, Allura feels his mind a million miles away, empty and calm like the surface of a pool or a mirror. The lack of conscious thought is something she's always found fascinating humans could achieve. In the past, she's caught Lance staring off into space and when asked what he was thinking of he would say "Nothing!" and grin and walk away. The idea of thinking of nothing was the oddest thing for her and Allura figured it was just a casual response to dissuade further conversation. But feeling this intimately through an undeniable connection, Allura can now say she understands what this nothing is.

Even so, she pushes herself up, dragging the sheet around her shoulders before crawling up behind him. Keith gives a small start when she presses herself up to his back, yet he relaxes once her arms wrap around his waist, hands resting on his exposed chest. Once again her hand finds the curious pulse of his heart, still on the left side of the chest, still so odd, and she kisses a soft smile to his shoulder.

"Did I startle you?" she asks quietly. Keith turns his head toward her, eyes filled with an emotion she can't identify even with their intimate connection.

"No," he says and his lips curl into a smile. He bows his head, pressing his forehead to her temple and she lifts her chin to accept the touch. "I'm not really used to... this."

"What? Touching?"

"Yeah, you could say that."

Allura pulls her head away and shifts a little to be properly sitting at his side. "Curious."

"Hm?"

She smiles a little wider as if entertaining a joke. "When I first got here, all you'd do is touch me."

Keith lets out a small huff, a laugh or a scoff. "I had to make sure you were real. That I wasn't... I've been here a long while. Seeing you again after all that made me pretty unstable."

All amusement faded as Keith confided a taste of his suffering. Allura lifts a palm to his cheek, thumbing the edge of his eyes where a mark would be if he were he like her.

"Back in Altea... we would touch the people we cared most like you did to me. We have touches of courtesy, pressing palms together in greeting not unlike your handshakes. Our Solar system was home to so many languages and cultures, so many different kinds of greetings and goodbyes... but we all had a similar way of expressing love and affection. In Altea, touching our marks... it meant wanting to show more than the courtesy. You wouldn't know this, but when you touched my temple it reminded me of that. And when we were being intimate and you touched my cheeks and rubbed your thumbs on my marks, it made me feel desirable in ways I never thought I would again."

Keith takes this all in with an open expression. The alien fascination of listening to something different and new made his face look younger, exposed... much like that memory of Shiro before all their adventure began.

"Do you have something like that back on Earth?"

Keith's lips tighten a fraction before he lifts his hand and presses it to her cheek, a smooth juxtaposition to her touch on his. "Not as literal, I guess. We obviously don't have special markings, though some of us have beauty marks or moles. And we definitely don't have the whole... Vulcan mind meld thing."

"Vulcan mind meld?" Allura raises a brow.

Keith's lips purse with amusement, "Sorry, it's kind of...an Earth thing. As far as body language goes, we react to the same touches. Though there are others we use to show our interest."

Allura's eyes brighten up, curious. "Oh? Which ones?"

Beneath the sheet, Allura feels his other hand slide against her belly before resting on the curve of her waist. Her breath hitches in surprise and she watches, transfixed as she sees his pupils expand in the dying light.

"T-that's rather bold," she stammers through a gasp when his hand continues its journey down her hip and caress her thigh. "I-Is this universal?"

"I wouldn't know," Keith says, brushing their noses together to tease her lips with his words. "I'm not the average human anymore. I'm more of an outlier than a proper example."

Allura shudders as he pulls her closer and she raises herself up to her knees to straddle his lap per the insistence of his hands. "Even so, that's not to say we still can't... experiment."

Keith's smile curls into something wicked, a grin that makes her body flush bright red. He brings her down for a kiss, languid and sensual. Their lips press and massage each other, drawing out sounds that make her ears twitch in delight and her hands to press harder into his neck and scalp.

"Honestly, I'm glad you don't have green blood or anything like that," Keith says in-between kisses. Allura pulls away for a second, eyebrows furrowing with confusion.

"Green blood?"

"The Vulcan thing... it's another earth--you know what, forget I mentioned it."

He kisses her deeply after that and if not for the distraction of his mouth drinking her in, Allura wouldn't have been able to forget about it. A deep darkness quickly follows, dragging the last of the casual warmth in the air and leaving them shivering. It's enough to have Keith lift her up--another thing that thrills her when he moves them as if her weight didn't bother him--and take the next step inside the shelter.

The foil sheet, Allura discovers after another round of carnal enthusiasm, is one that Keith has been saving should the nights get colder. She finds her heart expanding more and more when she realizes he had taken it out for her sake more so than his own. It's big enough for the two of them to roll into and proceed with endless touches and kisses. The hours of the night pass by between them as they sleep, wake, talk about everything and anything before Keith's hungry for her skin again and Allura's keening into his ear, grinding hard into his hands when they discover exactly what to make do with her flesh.

Humans, as it happens, have a refractory period in between sessions and while Keith is arguably slightly stronger than the others--possibly attributed to what Galra blood flows in him--he still collapses rather heavily over her or beneath her after he comes. It's endearing, seeing him fall apart and look so relaxed and peaceful as if he were something innocent and gentle. Allura finds herself growing fonder with every tick she spends in his arms, listening to him talk about the constellations from their view on Earth, to the times when he would go out hunting "cryptids" (as he calls them) when he was a boy.

She never expects him to make her laugh, but he does. As easily as he can draw moans and sighs from her throat, he can also encourage giggles and bouts of laughter from her chest. Sometimes at the same time. Sometimes without meaning to.

After a particular round that leaves them gasping and spent into each other's arms, tangled together so delightfully, Allura discovers something called "ticklish" in which if she strokes his sides at just the right moment with just the right pressure, Keith would yelp and squirm away, biting back giggles and laughter that's so infectious she has no problems using her extra strength to break through.

"Allura, I'll pee! I swear I will pee! Stop!!" He howled at one point, and the result was so amusing Allura was laughing hard enough to spill tears from her eyes.

"It is completely unfair you don't have that," Keith groaned after Allura's laughter dissolved into giggles and finally into the occasional chuckle. "Seriously."

"You're a delight," Allura says smiling wide and snuggling into his neck. "I'm happy to know you, Keith."

The oddest thing occurs as she says that, where his smile fades and he pushes himself up to look down at her. His eyes are so serious, so focused that she's worried she may have said something wrong. Instead, he reaches up and rubs his thumb against her marks. Knowing now that he understands the meaning of it makes her chest tighten with surprise and something even deeper. Something deep and profound. She's glad to have used her skill with quintessence to make her hands glow because otherwise, she would've missed the depth of meaning in his gaze.

"I'm happy to know you too, Allura," he says, voice soft, through their link an emotion that she wasn't expecting so soon surrounds her, leaving her feeling warm. It's so strong, her eyes well up with tears before she can stop it. "Happier than I ever thought I'd be."

She's not sure what to say to that and so she doesn't. Instead, she pulls him back down until their lips slot back together and she presses all the affection she can have back through until they're both spinning down a gentle fall that has her feel his heart against her chest and feels it synchronize with the rhythm of her own.

 

.x.

When she wakes again, Allura's body is aching in new ways that hurt a little more than she'd like. Keith is sitting next to their pile of rations, sucking at a bag of goo and tinkering with a piece of tech she assumes must be from the Red Lion. A tablet that glows red and shows numbers and graphs that make more sense to him now that his connection to Red's improving. Her shoulder twinges uncomfortably and Allura hisses, drawing Keith's attention from the tablet to her.

"Hey," he says warmly. Allura smiles back through a grimace.

"I do wish you'd let me bring my pod up here," she says, rubbing her shoulder as she reaches for her discarded suit. "The seat inside would be ample amount of space for the two of us to properly get some rest."

"Can't risk it," he says, lowering his tablet. She notices his suit has been tugged on all the way on, though his armor remains on the ground by his knees. "I haven't heard  _them_ return, but that doesn't mean they're not out there."

Allura nods and pulls her legs through her suit's pants. The sand stuck to her skin makes the process a lot more troublesome than it should be but she grits through it. The idea of being caught by this still unknown creature naked and with a thin foil sheet to cover her does not hold any appeal to her. Allura pulls the material of her suit up to her waist and begins the search for her chest wrap.

"Keith, have you seen my wrap?" she asks, searching under the foil sheet.

"You tossed it by my side of the shelter, last I saw it."

Allura hums a response, frowning when her searching leaves her unable to locate the fabric. "How much time until the sun comes up?"

"Probably another hour," Keith replies and Allura shifts her weight onto her knees. It was a little easier to spot his silhouette through the darkness, even without the glow of the tablet he was seemingly done tinkering with. It occurs to her, then, that he sounds somewhat distracted, voice strained with frustration.

"What's wrong?"

"It's Red," Keith says. He doesn't say anything for a while. Allura pauses her search, sinking her arms through her sleeves and pulling the material up until it covered her chest. After a while, Keith sighs. "I really want to go to her now. See if I can fix our bond. But I don't want to do it until the sun comes up."

"Keith," Allura says, hesitant. "How much have you slept?"

"Enough."

"Keith."

He says nothing and Allura crawls to him again, resting her knees against his as she takes his hands from the tablet to rest within hers. She wishes she can remove the gloves covering his skin from her, but she makes do. "You need to rest."

"I... I'm trying," he replies. "The sex helped. I was able to get a few good hours of sleep. I just... can't seem to sleep for long for some reason."

Allura's eyes crinkle with concern, and she gives his hands an understanding squeeze. He is not aware of it, but she can feel it, the paranoid awareness that has him flinching at the slightest sign of the unknown. The damage this planet causes him does not seem to be the temporary kind that will be gone with a quick nap in a pod.

She doesn't realize she's staring at him with her heart open for him to see until he glances up with a knowing expression.

"I can feel your concern, Allura."

Even after all they've gone through, he still surprises her with his apt observation. The surprise is not as silencing this time, though. Allura tugs her lower lip between her teeth before she could say anything. Keith's shoulders slump and he rubs his face with a hand.

"Sorry. I don't blame you for worrying."

"I won't need to for long," she says, letting one of his hands go to gently push aside a lock of hair. "We'll be out of here soon enough."

He catches her hand with his and holds her fingers to his cheek, eyes closing.

"I know," he says. When he opens his eyes again, they're focused and determined. "Just leave it to me."

 

.x.

 

They agree not to have sex again until they can find a way off the planet. As enjoyable as those first few times were, the ocean still looms ahead like a threat. Allura would feel more comfortable engaging in intimacy with Keith when they were safe in her rooms in the castle. To their relief, Keith finds that there’s a way to hose themselves down with clean water using the water filtration system in Red’s mechanics. It depletes their drinking water, but they have no further intention of staying on this planet anymore.

Allura doesn’t bother drying off, pulling on her suit and tugging it all the way up until her body is fully covered. She doesn’t bother with a bun and plaits her hair until it hangs in a braid by her knees. When she walks down Red’s massive paw, she spots Keith standing in front of Red’s lowered snout. The Lion's prowling position once would've sent a thrill of danger. Instead, it still looks battered, emitting an aura of exhaustion despite the feral gleam in the yellow eyes.

He’s back in his suit and armor, even his helmet was over his head. Allura is about to leave them to grant them privacy when his eyes open and he reaches for her with an extended hand. Allura gives a start but walks toward him, taking his hand and standing close. She presses her forehead to his, which only gets so far with his helmet in the way. Keith gives her hand a squeeze.

“I need your help,” he says when she pulls away.

Allura nods, “Anything.”

“I think I can bond right with Red now,” Keith says as he looks up at his Lion. “But I need something to amplify our connection. I think if you use your energy, we may be able to counteract the effects this planet may have on her.”

“Will it be enough to get her to fly?” Allura asks.

Keith looks at her with poorly veiled desperation. He attempts to cover it by giving her a small smile. “Can’t hurt to find out, can it?”

Allura returns it with a touch of comfort through their link. Keith steps back, giving her the space she needs to work. Allura draws in a breath, throwing a tense glance at the beach ahead--the waters continue to push and pull at the sand, dark and ominous. Swallowing, Allura faces the Lion and closes her eyes. Carefully, she feels for Red’s essence. The last time she had attempted an approach, Red had all but slammed back with a vicious wall. This time, though, the connection was eager and warm, pulsing with the acknowledgment of power. Allura's mind thrums with the sensation, comparing it to a flickering flame. Not for the first time, Allura is grateful for her connection with Keith. There is no way she'd be able to feel such a vibrant connection with Red otherwise.

Allura lifts her hands and digs deep, summoning quintessence from the energy around and within herself. Once she feels like she’s brimming with strength, she presses her palms against the warm metal of Red’s sun-heated body. She channels the power into her arms and unleashes it into Red’s body, feeling the quintessence mingle into the Red Lion’s energy and fill her with strength. Allura feels the Lion purr with appreciation, stretching its essence through its limbs. Allura smiles, sighing with relief as Red begins to respond with strength, as she's meant to.

Abruptly, Allura feels herself channeled into something powerful and unexpected, as if caught by the current of a River. She gasps, opening her eyes, only to witness a realm of stars and space seen through the eyes of the Red Lion. Allura stumbles backward in awe, feeling her body move--yet not move, how  _bizarre--_ backwards until she was staring up at the glowing body of the Red Lion. The mechanical beast looms above her, sitting with the pride of a cat preening with appreciation. Yet it's all so much... all so very much...!

Then she feels it. 

Intent.

Not entirely without words, but completely filled with emotions. Allura feels it shake her and she slips down to her knees, overwhelmed.

_W-what is this place?_

The answer comes through a gentle prod, and suddenly it's as if she's being cradled by the affection and love of her late father. The nostalgia catches her unaware, pushing and pulling at her chest until tears well up into her eyes and stream down her face. She blinks them away and looks up at the glory of the Lion ahead of her.

_**Thank you.** _

Allura exhales and it feels like she's exhaling through every pore in her body. She shakily pushes herself up to her feet, somewhat more composed as the sensory overload--or was it a mental overload?--calms under her skin, less like a fervid boiling and more like a rolling simmer. She wants to flex her body into this, wants to expand and extend until every joint pops and is filled with the light surrounding the Red Lion. It's an ecstatic sensation, one she's only felt but just at a mere fraction when she taps into the power of quintessence. It's unbelievably addicting and freeing.

It's in this moment that Allura finds herself engaged in understanding the depth of her connection to this strange realm and the power around her that she misses the introduction of something different. It doesn't register until it zooms by, overhead. Immediately, both Red and Allura tense up.

Allura's eyes glance up, searching into the endless eternity of light and space overhead and around her, unable to find the source of the disruption.

_Red... what was...?_

The question stops short just when Allura spots something off into the distance. She narrows her eyes, noticing that in this realm she can see further up ahead than what is possible, and yet, despite this new vision, it's still difficult to note. It's as if there was something... off. Not quite right. As if finding a piece of the view missing from the edges of her scope. But that makes no sense. What could be the reason for this?

Allura's eyebrows curl together, trying to put a shape to the very odd bit of space that seems to break away from the rest, not quite invisible, but not quite obvious. Red's energy swirls near her with an added unease, wary and uncertain by this new intruder. Judging by the biting sensation of the Lion's guard, Allura guesses that whatever it was that was ahead of them was not welcome.

_Allura?_

Keith's thoughts filter into her mind, somehow reaching through her through this space and making her draw a sharp breath. Somehow, through the bond, he must be able to sense this new development, yes? Allura doesn't want to respond yet, feeling as if breaking her concentration of that odd spot ahead would leave her vulnerable. Her lack of response seems to worry Keith and she feels something touch her hand, give it a squeeze even though her body here isn't being touched by anything.

_What is it? What’s happening?_

For a long moment, nothing happens. Allura keeps her breathing slow and steady, jaw tight with tension as she struggles to comprehend what must be done. She receives nothing from Red, knowing the Lion was paying with rapt attention at the same disturbance as she was. Still, nothing happens, and Keith's tugs on the bond finally allow Allura to relax a little. She begins to reach back, hoping to ensure that it was nothing, that there was nothing to worry about. Despite the bizarre  _hugeness_ of this realm, there was little else here that could overcome the power of the Red Lion.

_Y-_

Allura is slammed to the ground with brutal force. A shocked gasp is torn from her lungs as her mind struggles to catch up.  _What just--?_ She's slammed down again and suddenly she feels as though she's been thrown in the air, spinning without end in the void of space and light. Allura's mind is in a frenzy, hurrying to understand what is up and what is down but nothing makes sense. She blinks away tears and it feels as though something has grabbed her, squeezing her through violently tight fingers.

She cannot breathe, she cannot move, only stare up in horror as she sees whatever is rushing around her take a very livid black shape, surrounding her without mercy and with the terrifying feeling of being snatched by a being that beholds her to the importance of a pest, or vermin.

Allura chokes, struggling to fight back and find a way to defend herself. Through the fear and the soul-crushing pressure, she feels Red snarl through the link, firing out beams of light that slam into this dark force before disappearing into the whirlwind of blackness. Allura cries out, reaching for the Lion with desperation only to feel the pressure pinch against her, forcing a horrid clarity into her mind. She witnesses an instant where Red's glory is suddenly surrounded by this entity's violence.

She can do nothing as it swarms over the Red Lion and crushes itself down tight. Allura screams.

Somehow her voice breaks through the pressure filling her to the brim with power and light that it bursts from her body and slices through the blackness. Just like that, the pressure disappears and Allura falls. This gravity shocks her and she barely has time to brace herself before landing roughly on a ground made of stardust and something hard. Her knees take the brunt of the force before she lands on her side. She cries out, protesting in agony.

She shifts, blearily looking around to find this new enemy, but it seems to have gone. The Red Lion is ahead, its glory oddly dimmed, its eyes a faded yellow. She can only frown through the pain at the unusual sight of seeing Red look... as if she's been shut down--

Swaths of black distort the air around her, crinkling with a sound like something ripping into a fabric. Her very skin feels like it's being ripped from her bones. Allura grits her teeth and pushes herself up to fight back when it's all over her once more.

She wails in distress, hands clawing up when she feels the majority of the pressure around her neck. She opens her eyes and stares into a deadly void. The feeling of standing on the edge of a precipice while being threatened to be pushed inside seizes her chest and makes her whimper in fear. The void move as if appraising her. It squeezes with a bizarre sort of indifference as if it’s finally caught a very annoying pest within its trap and it’s contemplating whether to prolong her suffering or not.

Allura feels the heart-stopping fear chill her blood, unable to even cry for help. The entity decides and rears back. Allura throws up the last of her energy into a make-shift shield before the feeling of being slammed by a crashing wave devastates the last of her mental defenses. She lasts maybe a few ticks before the crushing force overcomes her and her mind blanks into a sheet of white that fades to a pitch black.

She drifts and feels something around her body, shaking her and holding her. She cannot put a name to it before she’s gone.

Gone...

...


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heavy trigger warning for extreme depictions of violence and blood for this chapter. you've been warned.

From the darkness, Allura's consciousness emerges from the lull of silence into the rhythmic sound of waves, breathing their entrancing sighs against the beach. Shuffling back and forth on rock and sand, back and forth. Back... and forth.

The first thing she notices is the weakness in her bones, the sensation of frailty that disparages her muscles and makes her feel as weak and tired as a shadow; thin and easily torn by the appearance of anything bright or overwhelming. She groans, barely a whisper through her throat and she hisses. Something dribbles past her temple and the unbearable itch helps her break from the spell of exhaustion. She needs to move.

She manages to lift an arm. The single task feels Herculean, and there is a protest that feeds from her mind into her body. She's never felt like this before. She drops her arm and it falls limp against her stomach just as she notices a strange sound hidden beneath the distant sounds of the ocean. A shuffling. Has it always been there?

Allura frowns and suddenly she hears her name, spoken in urgency. She hears it again, closer this time, _“Allura.”_

Hands gather under her shoulders, pulling her up and cradling her head. “Allura,” she hears again and the arms shake her. _“Allura!"_

Annoyance bursts and fades in her chest by the harsh, frantic motion, like an ink blot disappearing in a current. Somehow, that gives her strength to open her eyes just enough that she can barely register a pair of wide, worried, indigo eyes staring right back. She blinks and the image sharpens to Keith’s face, cast in the glow of dying sunlight. Ah... that explains the heat... wait, has it always been so warm? Is she sweating?

Just recognizing the facets of her body's comforts was enough to make her mind clear a little more. What on earth  _happened_ to her?

“Keith…” she tries to speak and feels the protest of this new attempt swallow her in a wave of pain. Her entire body throbs, pulsing like an open wound. Allura grimaces and her muscles clench despite her desire to fall into limp respite. Something

Something presses against her mouth, making her gasp at its abrupt appearance. Something about it revitalizes her and so her minor protest disappears. She clings to it, pressing back to it and letting it feed her energy. It's only when it pulls back that Allura realizes it’s a kiss and Keith pulls away to place his forehead to hers. The more he touches her, Allura notes, the better she feels.

“I thought I lost both you and Red,” he says. He’s trembling. Shaking just so that she wonders if he's cold. “I couldn’t connect with either of you. The link between us it…”

Slowly and with effort, Allura pulls her hand up to rest against his nape. “It’s okay,” she says softly, the words mixing together, slurring into something that's barely coherent. “I’m here, I’m okay.”

Keith’s grip on her tightens and she can feel his shaking with pronounced intimacy. Then she _feels it._ Her eyes pop open and she's momentarily stunned stiff by the surge of emotions pouring into her. It's almost too much; relief, anxiety, rage,  _mind-boggling fear..._

 “I…God, Allura, I thought I lost you...!"

He sounds small. So very, very small. Like a child. Like a meager little thing that clings to her. Allura tries to gather more strength, to pull his head up and press another kiss to his lips. Instead, she rubs her fingers over his neck to soothe him.

“I’m right here.” She wants to return every emotion with something that instills peace in him, but all she can muster is a gentle touch and have chewed words. "'m... right here... Keith."

Her mind seeks out the link between them, realizing that's how she feels all these emotions that couldn't possibly belong to her, and finds it worn down, like a silver-fine thread. Despite her desires, she has no energy to renew it. Yet, when she pulls, she feels that it does not break easily. A moment later, Keith lowers her and she doesn’t remember feeling the ground beneath her, just a slow descent. One that lasts eternities...

 

.x.

She wakes to darkness and the same ominous shifting of waters on the sand, beckoning forward, breathing a rhythm that cloaks over her. Her eyes blink in the shadows, disoriented... and then it hits her.

_Keith._

Allura bolts upright, heart ramming against her throat. _Wh-where? How?!_

She pulls past the spinning of her mind, not caring as to how she can move when she's able to actually pull herself up to her elbows and knees, shaking like a leaf even as she does. She searches through the darkness, stretching violently shaking fingers through the finer sand beneath. She seeks and seeks, finding nothing save a hard wall and a bump of rock that bites harshly into the flesh of her knuckles. Allura scrapes against the walls of the shelter... nothing... nothing... nothing!  _WHERE?_

Her chest seizes in a panic immediately.

“Keith?” she calls, her throat breaking at the force of her cry, whipping her hands around and seeking under sand and nothing. Her hand bumps into a discarded packet of goo, empty. “Keith?!”

She crawls through the shelter and finds it barren. She tries to summon her energy into her hands, to help her see. When that fails she attempts to shift, yet her mind moves like molasses and the idea of pushing her body to shift makes her mind recoil with lack of power. In the distance something rises from the tides... something that makes her body freeze before she can comprehend it.

It... 

what...?

Allura closes her eyes and her mind swallows her whole with a memory. One where she's surrounded, fighting, spinning and twisting into depths while something  _horrible_ shrieks in her ears--

It's more than one. She hears it. Shrieking, screaming, something swinging, something tearing through the air and the fabric of space and--She pushes herself to her feet and stumbles forward, unable to see anything in front of her face let alone anywhere else. She wants to shout his name, but the cacophony of screaming and howling in the distance is terrifying. She doesn’t know how useful it can be. Allura tries to summon the quintessence again, but her energy is so depleted and exhausted, it’s a fight to stay on her feet.

_R-Red... I need... I need to find Red. The Red Lion... the--_

A sharp wind pushes at her, making her hair and what remains of her braid whip around her, slapping harshly against her exposed face. Allura clenches her teeth, keeps low to the ground and fights to make sure she's even headed in the right direction. Every step forward is a brush with death, every misstep leaves her heart slamming and pounding in her ears and against the weak bones of her chest. She feels like a hollow cage, just barely strong enough to hold back the force of her fear.

Her foot lands on something uneven and her ankle twists. Allura screams as her body careens forward, throwing her hands up around her head as she lands hard into rock and sand. She rolls, bouncing hard into the ground and picking up speed. Each slam into the ground shoves air from her chest in hard grunts and pained cries. Finally, the ground evens out and she hisses when her ribs land against a rock. She pulls herself up, coughing and spitting up sand that made its way into her mouth during her fall. She spreads her legs beneath her, lifting off until she's on her feet but still low on the ground.

She tastes blood beneath the sharp taste of salt and ammonia. The trickle on her forehead is joined by others over her cheeks. She wants to collapse, cry, curl into a ball and pray Coran would find her...

“… _Stay BACK YOU BASTARDS!”_

She hears metal tearing through the air, slicing sounds and faint whistles that promise violence. Allura looks up, sees something offset in the darkness that she can't seem to understand it. Something like a faint light appears through the soup of shadows. Allura narrows her gaze at it and hurries toward it, stumbling and crying out when she nearly falls yet again. Its permanence and odd movements play with her depth perception, appearing within hand’s reach yet the further she runs toward it, it doesn’t seem to loom any closer. She hears another scream fade into power within her ears.

“STAY BACK OR YOU DIE!!”

Keith’s voice is unmistakable now, snarling vicious curses through the air. Something clangs roughly against metal and Allura hears him roar. Allura forces energy into her legs, fighting the exhaustion that tempts her bones to collapse.

_Keith… Keith… Keith!_

Allura projects all she has through the thin thread-like link. She catches faint flits of emotions, angry and livid like hissing flames, but they aren’t bright like the essence she's shared with him. These flames are marred by a darker emotion, murderous and terrible… frightened. Terrified.

_He’s scared._

_Keith!!_

Allura stumbles through sand, following the link like a tether and hoping that it doesn’t snap. Without warning, Allura falls and it feels like she’s broken through a barrier because suddenly she’s surrounded by harsh light and horrid heat. Something roars in her ears, and the wind becomes a storm of which she's fallen into its center.

She cries out, arms flying up to protect her face when the heat whips over her face. Allura recoils, blinking past the biting air and gasps. Her arms lower in shock as she realizes she’s surrounded by a wall of flames at least ten feet high. She pulls herself up again to unsteady feet and hurries over the sand, avoiding the flames as best she can. Slowly but surely, she feels like she can move more certainly...

Her foot catches on something and Allura cries out as she falls.

Allura looks back, aggravated by the constant pain her hands were feeling from catching her falls when her body freezes.

Blue eyes stare emptily into hers and the fire around her is not strong enough to still the icy horror that sucks the air out of her without mercy. Lance’s body lies prostrate on the ground, blood--bright red and gleaming with the reflection of the flames--seeps from a long wound on his neck. His eyes... _his eyes!!_

Allura bites into her hand, stifling a scream that rips from her chest and yanks tears from her eyes. When she can no longer stomach the sight she tears her gaze away… only to find another body—Pidge. Glasses shattered and weeping blood from parted lips. Allura wails, spinning away, and sees Hunk’s body, staring up at the sky and covered in bloody gashes all over his chest, one of his hands was severed. Allura shrieks as she turns and digs her hands into her hair, drawing nails into her scalp as she sees Coran’s body, sliced in half, sprawled in a heap of gore and blood.The sight makes Allura’s stomach squeeze and she doubles over, heaving.

Nausea seizes her stomach with violence and Allura doubles over, stuffing her fist into her mouth to keep from heaving. Tears pour from her eyes as she attempts to run, to find an escape to this nightmare, backtracking and hoping to find Keith. Where is Keith?!

Allura scrambles away, hyperventilating when something hits the back of her calves and she falls backward on her spine. She grunts in pain and looks down… and sees Shiro’s eyes meeting hers in a half-lidded stare, empty and lifeless.

Something in her shatters. 

Allura screams, sobs and tries to crawl away. The fire around her makes it impossible to do so and all she can do is stare... her cries end in silence when suddenly, Shiro's body starts to darken as if being swallowed by some shadow. His eyes, empty and lifeless, collapses inward, disappearing into darkness as the skin begins to turn a pitch-black shade. Allura's fingers find her mouth and dig into her lips as she beholds the change and sees a dead creature in the place of what she had believed was Shiro.

The body stretches and distorts, revealing a figure of an unknown origin. Somewhere in her mind Allura's able to latch onto the single sane thought that this was all an illusion, that she did not just witness the death of all her friends, her family. In its place remains the eyeless stare, twin black holes that face nothing.

When it’s transformation is done, flames commence to swallow it whole. Allura looks away and gasps upon seeing the same thing occur to the other bodies. Lengthening and turning back into the dead figures of the creatures caught pretending to be their dearest friends. Another roar tears her attention away from the dead creature at her feet and Allura turns to see its cause.

Allura gapes, eyes wide as she takes in the sight.

Through the flames and in the distance, Keith charges forward, dual wielding his blades and spinning like rage and violence. She sees him swing and spots more shadows among the flames. More dead creatures... and suddenly she sees some standing, tall and immense and horrifying.

These were beings that stood probably two to three meters high, pitch black limbs that seem to swallow light, gangly with fingers that stretch impossibly long. They have no discernible features aside from looking like they were cut from some horrifying black cloth that distorts the air around them. There are pinpricks of light reflecting deep within the holes where eyes would be, and the holes where mouths are part and stretch...

A series of mind-splitting shrieks erupt from one creature's mouth. Allura slams her palms over her ears instinctively, whimpering and clenching her teeth hard. Squeezing her eyes shut, Allura turns her head and shakes off the pain, opening her eyes to the dead creatures nearest her. Their bodies were now covered by the flames, reduced to fuel for the bright licks of white and orange and angry red.

She understands then. This is  _T_ _hem._ Allura glances back to see the dead creature at her feet now completely swallowed by the fire. _You…you’re one of them._

Allura whirls back around in time to see Keith slice through the limb of one of the approaching shadow creatures. The fabric of space around the wound distorts and writhes, black liquid spraying into the air and catching fire as it sprays into the sand.

She gasps and studies the flames, finds the fire eating at streaks of ichor on the sand and eating multiple bodies of fallen creatures all over the beach.

A beam of light strikes an area of the beach, flashing light blindingly white before a loud explosion rocks the sand beneath her and has Allura bouncing away at the force. She looks up and sees Keith stopping his attacks just in time for the Red Lion to appear from the flames behind him. Its body was curled in a threatening posture, maw parted in an intimidating snarl.

One of the creatures lunges through the air, impossibly fast for Allura's tired eyes to witness move toward Keith. Allura gasps in alarm just as Keith roars and swings his bayard. The sword slices through the creature's extending hand, black ichor sprays into the air and catches fire as it falls. The creature recoils immediately, shrieking yet again and pulling back. A beam of fire bursts from Red’s mouth and envelops the creature. It lets out a horrifying screech as it falls. The battle, which looks like it may be going in Keith’s favor suddenly looks odd.

From where she sits, Allura can barely see the ocean behind them, sees there must be at least ten creatures on the beach itself locked in this battle against Keith and the Red Lion. Only, just one seems to be actively moving around Keith. The others remain a fair distance away, staring with wide, pupil-less, eyes, white pinpricks fixed on Keith as he charges and attacks again. Another explosion rocks the beach and two more fall to the flames and smoke--it  _stinks_ of ammonia and something else, something foul--when Allura sees the ocean with clarity.

The ocean waves continue their relentless push and pull over the beach and sand, yet its surface was disturbed by shadows peering over the waves. Another burst of light and Allura sees them. Sees the _legion_ of creatures peering over the surfaces of the waters. They make no further motion to approach, their focus completely fixed on Keith.

Keith swings once more and tears down another foe, but he stumbles as he does. From this distance, Allura struggles to see him clearly, but she knows he’s sweating and panting. He makes another wild swing to deter another monster only this time his strength fails and he falls to his knees. In that instant, multiple creatures take a lunging step forward, yet they stop once Keith hurries back up to his feet.

He’s tiring… and  _they were waiting._

_Oh, Gods…_

She charges, hurrying as best as she can and not knowing what else to do. Allura scrambles to her feet, leaping over fallen wraiths and tearing through the sand before she shouts, “KEITH!!”

He spins, his eyes landing on her through the chaos and the flames. He sees her running towards him and his expression caves to that of open-eyed relief before hardening into one of wild, hysteric, rage. He points his sword at her, the Galra one, and Allura skids to a stop before she can impale herself on it.

“It’s me, it’s me, I swear!” she says, raising her hands.

“Prove it!” he snarls, “If you’re really her!”

Allura’s hair whips back and forth in the wind created by the furious flames, and she cannot think of anything, save approach him. She drags her feet through the sand to reach him and when the tip of his blade brushes her throat, Allura falls to her knees with a pained groan and meets his gaze, tears falling from her eyes.

“Together,” she says and she hates how weak she feels now. “I promised you. That we would do this together.”

Keith stares at her, eyes growing wide as he considers her, the snarl over his lips refusing to budge.

“I don’t feel you,” he says and she knows he means the bond.

Allura heaves and coughs, the smoke in the air burning in her lungs. She reaches for him.

“It’s me,” she says, and she looks away to see Red’s body standing in a menacing position. She reaches for her essence.

_It’s me. It’s me._

_Please…_

She feels a touch on her mind, testing and prodding. Allura welcomes it, registers Red’s essence and is overwhelmed by a different sort of warmth when Red abruptly envelopes her and tethers her mind to the bond between her and Keith.

The silver-fine thread tightens and expands until Allura can push her entire hope into a single thought.

_Keith, it’s me. It’s me._

The blade falls from its place by her throat. Keith falls to his knees in front of her and she feels his arms wrap under hers, gathering her tight against his chest. Allura’s arms swing around his shoulders and cling as tight as she can to him.

“We’re leaving,” she hears him say, voice hard. “Now.”

Allura nods and follows him, pushing to their feet, through sand and fire as they cut their way through the creatures and wraiths begin screaming at them. Their voices take shape, mimicking Pidge’s, Lance’s, Hunk’s, even Coran’s.

Then she hears another voice.

_“ALLURA!”_

Allura freezes, feet freezing within the sand, her heart squeezing tight in her chest until her throat becomes tight with the pressure. She ignores Keith’s insistent tugs, turns despite herself and finds a figure from an age long past. _No..._

King Alfor stands behind a pillar of flames, hand outstretched toward her. He’s covered in blood, his other hand cradles a weeping wound in his stomach before he stumbles for her. His eyes pierce right through her.

"Father," she breathes and everything inside her is still and straining. "Father...!"

"Allura, it's not real!" she hears, but how can that be? He's right there... he's right there and he's reaching for her. Allura's hand stretches toward him and she pulls against the hands that yank at her. She can't look away, not from the eyes that need her so badly, eyes that she's known for ages, eyes...

_Eyes that watched her lovingly. Eyes that scolded her when she acted out. Eyes that made promises. Eyes that crinkled with sadness when the fires of the Galra surrounded them._

_“I love you.”_

"ALLURA!" Her father screams and Allura cries out when she sees him fall to his knees.

“NO!”

Allura wails, her heart and mind tearing as Alfor’s screams continue to pierce her. Her knees give and she finds herself feeling so small. Other voices fill the void and Allura recognizes other voices join the cacophony. She recognizes many. Voices of family and friends whom were long dead.

Other figures take shape, forming the shape of childhood friends. The original paladins stand by her Father’s imposter. Trigel, her brilliant eyes are darkened by the lifeless stare she aims at Allura, auburn hair swinging in the inferno as she reaches for her, dark green blood falling from her mouth as she cries and pleads.

_“Princess! SAVE US!”_

Blaytz, once so full of charm and wit—his immense blue body marred by plasma wounds and cradling a shredded arm. And Gyrgan, sweet caring Gyrgan—hobbles toward her, weeping blood and reaching in vain.

 _“ALLURA!”_ they cry, reaching and begging, pleading and imploring. Each cry tears at her soul.

“It’s not real,” she hears, the words coming from around her, from within her. She loses her grip on Keith to cover her ears. “It’s not real! You’re all already dead!!”

_“ALLURA!”_

_“ALLURA, PLEASE!!”_

_“SAVE US!”_

_And she sees them, the faces of all of them as Altea burns. Sees them reach for her as they die and Allura reaches and cries and watches as they fall to flame and ash, eyes wide and lifeless on the ground as they fall. Allura feels the agony burst from her chest into a scream so strong she cannot stop it._

"Allura! Allura, we have to go!!"

Allura collapses to her knees as she sobs. "They needed me!" the words cut through her lips like glass. She cannot look away. "They needed me and I wasn't there..."

Another figure appears behind a pillar of sweeping flames. Allura recognizes the sight as intimately as she knows her own.

Silver white hair swings in the wind, robes the color of the sky, the ocean, the juneberries she's loved so much surround the long and graceful body of her mother. A sharp breath rips into her chest as Allura sees her mother stand like she once did, strong and able and willing to battle until death or victory took her. Allura feels like a child again, on her knees and crying and desperately reaching. Her mother’s arms rise in the air, pointing at her with bloody fingers. Twin lines of blood run down her mother’s cheeks from her eyes, tears of blood.

 _“Allura.”_ Everything inside Allura goes deadly silent. “ _Why didn’t you save us?”_

A scream unlike any other echoes in Allura’s ears and she’s being dragged away. She doesn’t see anything, only the face of her mother as it grows more and more distant.

“Mother!” Allura weeps and clings to the arms pulling her away. “Mother!”

“It’s not real!” Keith’s voice in her ear is faint yet loud and she feels him hoist her up, dragging her until their feet strike metal and they are scrambling up the ramp that leads to Red’s cockpit. Red’s jaws slam closed and Allura feels so cold now that the flames were gone.

“RED!” she hears Keith cry as he moves her up into the cockpit and he lunges into the chair, Allura falling into his lap as he does so. They shift and she feels him cradle her as he grabs onto the controls and hurries to input data on the panel in front of him. Alarms wail in their ears, but Keith wills the Lion to start through desperate pleas.

“Come on, come on, come _on!”_

Allura fades in and out, her mind haunted by the images of her wounded family and fallen comrades. Through some force of energy, Allura suddenly feels Keith’s mind surround her like a shield from the imagery.

_Focus, Allura. I need you with me, right here, right now._

 

Her stomach dips and Allura feels the force of gravity force her harder against Keith. The Red Lion roars loud and shoots into the sky.

“We’re getting out of here, Allura.” She hears him speak but her mind seems to have shut down. All she can do is stare, wide-eyed as tears fall roll down her cheeks. “Stay with me, Allura.”

_I killed them... they're dead because of me._

"Allura!"

She doesn’t know how but her chin lifts and her eyes find his. Indigo irises meet hers through the visor of his helmet and it’s an image that reminds her of the protective look of her father. The warm understanding that belonged to Shiro. All of it mixed into the determined expression now burning life into her bones.

“Together,” he says, determined and focused. Warm. Like a spark. An ember. A tug of electricity. He repeats it, “Together.”

Allura sees into Keith's eyes as they pierce her with anger and desperation, pain and anguish... but there is a determination in them too and that saves her.

"Together."

She clings to the word as they push into the sky and flee.

The darkness gives chase.


	11. Chapter 11

The screen is blaring red.

Alarms screech in Keith's ears as he pushes Red harder than he's ever had before. Sweat pours down his brow like bullets and all he can do is blink the sting away as he twists the controls with all the force he can muster, fighting back the intense force of inertia and gritting his teeth doing so. Allura's body clings to him tightly, her arms and legs curled around him with enough strength to make his suit and armor protest, yet he doesn't dare tell her to ease off. Her crushing hold grounds him in the moment, keeps him from dissolving into panic and despair.

Red's energy is just as desperate as his, mingling around his mind with a fury of being unable to fully see them. Somehow, they can feel the malicious energy, taking shape in swaths of black shadows that the space around them and threaten to yank them back down into the depths. Keith's mind link with Red's with an iron will, letting the Red Lion's sense guide him through the insurmountable confusion of darkness and evil.

Keith twists the controls once more and lets out a snarl, feels it radiate out until he isn't certain if it was Red who growled instead. That doesn't matter. There is no option aside from escaping this nightmare. The Red Lion barrel rolls violently, narrowly dodging another attack as they continue to shoot further up into the sky. All the while, Keith sends rapid commands into his panel when he can afford a millisecond away from the controls, seeking out a filter into the screen ahead that would allow them the sight needed to spot the entities hell-bent on killing them.

A sharp twist in the air has Allura whimpering into his ear, and the sound makes his chest clench tightly. He cannot allow his mind to think back to the figures _they_ became that left Allura so weak and powerless, screaming with the agony of losing a thousand loved ones. He cannot begin to fathom the soul-splitting pain of seeing people long dead return to haunt with pleadings and pointing bloody blame. It was all too much for her. The pain of a wound being ripped so violently opened despite fighting so hard against it. This violation has left her broken and terrifyingly small in his arms and he feels like a monster for not saving her earlier...

So, Keith channels all his fury and slams through the resistance of exhausted muscles with a vicious scream.

He's caught in a cacophony of the chaos of blaring red and all he can do is push, push,  _push_...

They spin in the air, the force of his commands slamming them into the seat beneath and daring his muscles to rip and shatter under it. Keith's teeth strain as he clenches his jaw and digs his fingers harder around the steering. He can taste blood and salt and ammonia, and he  _pushes_ so hard...!

An idea strikes him and Keith stabilizes Red just long enough for him to reach down and slam his hand on the button that would allow the idea to manifest. One of his monitors lights up, showing the frame of Red's exoskeleton and animates the boosters beneath Red's paws and around her flanks. Energy missiles deploy a split second later, surrounding them in bursts of brilliant light. A faint shrieking sound reaches his ears and Keith uses that chance to continue the search through the screen's filter system.

Infrared. X-ray. Gamma. Ultraviolet. None of them work!

Until...

Finally, he sees tendrils of matter speed toward them. The screens blare and demonstrate an odd chrome-like view that's difficult to see but at least exposes the tendrils' erratic movements. One such tendril surges towards them at a terrifying speed. Keith snarls as he spins them out of the way.

“Come on, Red, come on!" He screams encouragement, biting his lip in the process but he hardly notices.

An alarm on the corner of his screen pulses angrily at him. He glances at it. Bars and graphs show depleting energy, weak spikes that show the struggle of Red attempting to gather energy to push through. Keith huffs a harsh breath and shoots his arm toward her energy compressors, fingers pressing at blurring speeds over the tech. He diverts energy, switches off unnecessary systems, even considers dispelling parts of her armor to lose weight--alarms scream and scream in response.

_Come on, Red, come on! We can’t give up now!_

Suddenly, something strikes them fromt the side so strongly that Keith's body slams off to the side. His lips part in a scream that dies before it can escape, burning into a tight groan when he feels something in his ribs snap under the pressure. He's paralyzed for an instant, eyes swimming with agonized tears. Allura's arms suddenly fall from around him and instinct manages to yank Keith out of his pained paralyzed position to scramble and hold her tight against him. He wails when the pain in his side blossoms into something splintering and hot. To his horror, the cockpit goes dark, and the alarms stop their hysterical screaming.

His stomach rises to his chest and his spine feels odd with a new sensation. It doesn't occur to him what's happening until he feels Allura's body begin to float away, limp and lifeless. Keith grips on to her tighter, hoping it's enough that at least he's not floating off from his seat. It hits him then. 

They were in freefall.

A low whine of metal disturbs the air of the cockpit and a soft red glow blinks blearily around them. Keith's eyes shoot back and forth, trying to find something, anything!

_What do I do? What can I do?_

He looks around frantic as Red’s backup systems barely keep the cockpit lit in a soft glow. The Lion is frighteningly quiet.

_I must bond, bond with my Lion. It’s the only way I can get us out of here alive. It’s the only way I can save Allura…_

_It’s the only way._

_Red._

_Red..._

_RED...!!_

_PLEASE!!_

And then he feels her.

Red's essence curling around his mind, heightening his vision and allowing him to feel more than he's ever felt. Even through it all, she feels weak and tired. Sapped of energy. Robbed of it.

he did this.

 

_I’m sorry. God, I’m so sorry._

Images flash in his mind, bright and overwhelming him with the Black Lion's golden gaze and the empty cockpit that calls to him. Beckons him. Keith's eyes widen and he recoils.

 _Red,_ no. _I won't do that. We have to find Shiro! He's the Black Lion's true pilot, not me._

Keith's body trembles in pain, his heart clenching tightly even as Red sustains him. He feels her reach out to him again, only this time, the thought that enters him is bigger than anything before. It's more coherent than ever before. In its purest form, it maintains an aura of light and love, an understanding that predates him. He blinks and swears he sees the silhouette of a man in regal armor and glowing white hair. The image falls into him and Keith gasps.

 

 

 _Our bond will never disappear, young Paladin.  
__We shall always be bonded, mind, heart, and soul._  
But you must do that which is necessary… for the sake of the Universe.

 

 

_For the sake of the ones you love._

 

 

Keith draws in a shuddering breath. He isn’t ready. He could never... 

_Don't ask this of me... not yet. Not until there is no other option._

There is silence. 

then

 

_Very well._

 

 

Something new takes hold and Keith feels it enter his very being, radiating into his soul and filling him to the point of bursting with light. He closes his eyes tight and opens them, feeling the channel of power through multiple bonds until he visualizes them surrounded by flames and life, and the energy of the universe itself. A vision of Allura at his side startles him, of a time when they were caught between the ocean and an orange sunset and she's placing a beautiful promise in his hands.

_Together._

 

 

Together.

 

 

_Together._

The thoughts converge and Keith feels them draw power from the air around them, from the stars, from the essence of time and space and gather within his chest. It is not unlike the moment Allura poured her power into his mind, overwhelming him with its light and sheer magnificence until he was certain he was going to explode with it. Though this time, he does not recoil, he lets it fill him so fully he is certain his atoms are vibrating with power.

Keith breaths in and grasps his controls with new understanding. He stills himself and opens his eyes...

before slamming the controls forward.

Red's systems light up as if connected to a live wire, bright wide and red and nearly blinding. All the graphs and holograms burn with brilliance, radiating an increase of power that has them shooting off into the sky once more.

It was a movement unlike he’s ever experienced, the sharp synchronization to his lion that makes every twist and turn feel like it’s his own bones and muscles making the motions. He can feel the glow of their vision becoming one, and Keith spins Red so fast, they begin to radiate a fire bright enough that the darkness shrieks and pulls away.

They burn through the air like a shooting star. Keith keeps his focus and concentration narrowed right over the sight ahead until the darkness shatters.

With a burst of color, stars and constellations explode into view. Keith gasps. The Oduro Nebula lingers in the distance far from the star nearest to them, a blanket of translucent red, purple, and pink colors that get brighter the further out they get from the planet’s atmosphere.

Keith's breath leaves him, and he's so surprised to see so much light overhead in such abundance he can't fathom it for a solid two minutes. Is this it? This cannot be another illusion, right?

But the darkness doesn't return, there are no distant shrieks in the background, only silence and the steady hum of the Red Lion's systems as they peak over the planet's atmosphere and continue to careen into space.

Keith blinks and feels tears slide down his cheeks. _Has the universe always been_ _this radiant…?_

A memory overtakes him then. One of looking up at the stars from the plush comfort of an old car seat in the middle of the desert. Overhead was the beauty of the milky way, twinkling like a river eternal.

_“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Shiro’s voice is soft and reverent. Keith looks down to see the child-like marvel in his eyes, he can’t help but agree._

_“I guess.” He smirks when Shiro returns his look with one of dry amusement._

_“You don’t have much of an eye for beauty, do you?”_

Keith’s eyes well up again with tears falling down in small trails before cascading into rivers down his face. He looks to the side and sees the sunlight of the nearest star and he can’t believe it.

_“You know what they say, Shiro...”_

He hears a soft groan and Keith glances down to see Allura stirring, her eyelids fluttering. When they part, Keith can’t help but smile down at her. Beneath the radiance of starlight, sunlight, and the kaleidoscope of colors from the nebula, he sees it all reflected in Allura’s eyes, blinking up at him in awe and momentary disbelief.

_“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”_

“Allura,” he says, and smiles when he sees her sit up in his lap. “Look.”

She does, and the tears that well up in her eyes fall like shooting stars down her cheeks. Her breath catches in her throat. That’s when they see it in the distance, like a shining blue and white pearl making its way towards them.

“Is…is that…?” Allura's fingers squeeze into his shoulders and neck, a pinch that's almost painful but only cements this moment as real.

Keith nods, and feels the tension of the past few weeks give purchase to a deep-rooted relief as it overcomes him.

“Yes,” he says as Allura’s arms come around him. “It’s the Castle.”

 

“We did it.”

 

An alarm on the Red Lion’s screens pops up, making them both jump in the seat. Keith hisses tightly, wincing when his side protests angrily. Allura immediately notices.

"Keith!" she calls his name and she pulls away from him, hurrying to see where was the source of his pain. "What is it? Are you injured?"

"I'm fine," Keith says, though his voice comes out strained and hoarse from screaming for so long. "Actually, I think I broke my ribs just now..."

"Sit still, I'll--" before she can attempt to tend to him, he reaches up and pulls her back down into his lap. The alarm keeps beeping at them but Keith doesn't focus on it, choosing to bury his nose in her neck and breath her in, feel her pulse against his nose and lips. He doesn't notice he's shaking until he feels her hands come around his neck and gently caress his head.

"Thank you," he says and it's impossible to fight back the tears but he manages to keep himself from fully breaking in her arms. "Thank you, Allura."

"Oh, Keith," she whispers and when she pulls away, Keith sees her face glowing pink with emotion. "We wouldn't have made it without you."

A moment passes where they press their foreheads together, letting everything that makes this moment real--down to the harsh scent of ammonia still clinging to them, to the pain on his side, to the irritable sound of the hailing frequency begging for attention--solidify into congruence. Finally, they both seem to have had enough of the frequency's constant whining and Keith answers it immediately.

Coran’s face appears before them, a frown etched over his face melts away to express a relieved and wide smile. Keith nearly starts crying again at the sight of that man's cheery ginger mustache. Allura gasps openly, one of her hands pressing hard against her mouth to contain her emotion.

“Princess! Keith!” Coran exclaims with a great huff of happiness. “I was so worried! You’ve been gone for hours and I haven’t heard from either of you this entire time!”

Allura breathes in through a sob and covers her mouth as tears fall from her eyes.

“Coran,” she weeps, her smile beaming despite the tears cascading down her cheeks. “You’re alive! You're okay!”

In a moment, Coran’s face shifts from relief to confusion. “Well, of course, I am, Princess! I’m pleased you could locate Keith okay. …Why do you both look like you’ve seen an army of ghosts? And why are you both covered in blood? What’s happened?!”

A sob or a laugh escapes Keith’s throat and he can’t help but shake his head, “We’ll explain when we get there, Coran. Where are the others?”

“Lance, Pidge, and Hunk have made it back safe and sound!” Coran announces brightly even while his expression remains wary and concerned. “If you had been another tick, I would’ve sent them after you!”

“NO!” Allura exclaims and Keith presses a hand to her back as she collapses in a fit of tears. Coran reels with alarm. Keith's expression does not soothe the alarm in his face. It's becoming more and more difficult not to collapse out of sheer exhaustion.

“We’ll explain later, Coran." Keith sighs and curls his fingers anxiously around his controls to keep steady. "But for now, we’re coming to you. Princess Allura and I would love the chance to rest when we board.”

“Very well, Keith,” Coran says, nodding diplomatically. “I expect a full report after you both have gathered your bearings!”

"Prep a pod, too," Keith adds on, grimacing. "I'm gonna need it... actually we both will."

Coran's eyebrows knit together in the middle but he says nothing. He gives them both a nod and without another word, Keith shuts the frequency off and inputs the commands for Red to go into autopilot. Arms freed, Keith wraps them around Allura and pulls her in close, pressing their foreheads together until her sobbing slows and calms. It's worth the pain on his side, and so Keith makes no motion to ease off. It'll all go away as soon as they make it back into the castle. That's all that matters now.

“We did it,” she says. “We made it out.”

“Together,” Keith says and for the rest of the journey back, they remain close together, loath to let go and even more so at the idea of looking back at the planet that nearly ended them.

When the Red Lion finally docks inside the Castle and the rest of the team hurries down to meet with them, the others are surprised to notice that neither Keith nor Allura have gotten out of the Lion. A quick search inside reveals them still laying together on the cockpit, curled tightly together, reeking of blood and ammonia, fast and heavily asleep.

 

 

END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> possible epilogue to come. thanks for reading!


End file.
